STRUTTURA Collective's 'Assembramento' Performance in Rome

On March 7, 2021, the newly formed Italian art collective STRUTTURA staged its first performance, titled 'Assembramento,' in Piazza San Cosimato, Rome. The event was a direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the social distancing measures that had isolated individuals. The collective, founded by Michele M Criscuolo, Monica Reali, and Flavio Orlando, brought together artists under 35—Criscuolo, Orlando, Mirko Leuzzi, Gabriele Maruotti, and Alfredo Valerio—to metaphorically reclaim public space and collective experience. The performance featured distorted, grotesque, and aggregated painted figures, symbolizing an alternative gathering to overcome imposed distance. The artists come from diverse backgrounds: Criscuolo's work is influenced by anatomy and quantum physics, Orlando explores free-form drawing, Valerio depicts awkward anthropomorphic figures in hostile spaces, Leuzzi is a self-taught outsider producing instinctive works, and Maruotti uses 3D software to blend dreams and technology. The collective's manifesto, written by curator Monica Reali, emphasizes networking and shared experience as survival strategies in a cultural desert. STRUTTURA aims to rebuild collective dimensions offline, using art to reappropriate the piazza as a symbol of lost social interaction. The performance was documented by photographer Claudia Candidi.