Rolf Nowotny's Sculptures Confront Pietro Canonica's Ghost at Villa Borghese

The Fortezzuola exhibition series brings internationally recognized artists little known in Italy to Villa Borghese, pairing them with the lingering presence of Pietro Canonica. Danish artist Rolf Nowotny (b. 1975, Copenhagen) responds to Canonica's monumental marble sculptures with heterogeneous media, simulating motion in stillness. A train advances on a windowsill, miniature figures burst into a bedroom, and a wooden bed frame invades the ground-floor hall. Nowotny's moderate rebellion against form uses resin, plastic, and natural residues to create fragile faces that contrast with Canonica's regal, austere works. A combusted motorcycle helmet conceals vegetal features, dead leaves, and dry branches—anonymous visages evoking a dreamlike freedom for nothingness. The exhibition runs at the Museo Pietro Canonica in Rome.