William Xerra's 'VIVE' Opens New Season at Fondazione San Fedele

The Fondazione Culturale San Fedele in Milan, a Jesuit institution founded in 1994, launches its new exhibition season with a show by William Xerra (born Florence, 1937). Titled 'VIVE 1972-2022', the term refers to a proofreader's mark indicating text mistakenly marked for deletion but restored. Xerra's practice involves salvaging fragments and paintings from flea markets. The retrospective, curated by Andrea Dall'Asta SJ, includes 'Via Crucis' (1999), donated to the foundation and based on an 18th-century anonymous Piedmontese painter's work Xerra bought at a market. Two new works reinterpret a 17th-century painting from San Fedele's collection and 'IO-MENTO', a stamped mark evoking commercial packaging labels. In the crypt, Xerra's 1988 copy of Mantegna's 'Dead Christ', made for a Palazzo Strozzi exhibition, is displayed. The opening on October 5, 2022, also inaugurates the Nanda Vigo room, linking the museum to the historic Galleria San Fedele. The following day, the foundation unveils 'Verso una Casa della Comunità', a healthcare assistance project for vulnerable groups, in collaboration with Fondazione Casa della Carità Angelo Abriani. The foundation positions both initiatives as addressing marginality through redemption.