by Annalisa Giacinti // Sept. 19, 2024
From September 10th to 14th, Pozzuoli hosted ‘Panorama,’ a city-wide exhibition conceived by Italics, a consortium of more than 60 art galleries, aimed at foregrounding Italian cultural heritage. As per tradition, the fifth iteration of Panorama, curated by the director of Centre Pompidou-Metz, Chiara Parisi, took place in a lesser known Italian town (L’Aquila, Monferrato, Procida and Monopoli were the previous city hosts), one not yet spoiled by over-tourism or turned into its own caricature by the unrelenting proliferation of half-empty Airbnbs. Instead, the reason why the historic center of Pozzuoli, called Rione Terra, has stayed uninhabited since the 1970s is bradyseism, a phenomenon typical of the volcanic caldera on which the ancient city was built, which causes the earth to gradually lift and descend according to the quantity of magma gathered underneath. What was once the acropolis of one of the earliest colonies of Magna Graecia, and a fishing town until the second half of the 20th century, was suddenly evacuated and eventually abandoned in 1980, after the disastrous Irpinia earthquake. In 2014, Rione was restored and opened to the public as an open-air museum.
Wilfredo Prieto: ‘Uncertain Future,’ 2011, installation view Panorama Pozzuoli 2025 // Courtesy of Galleria Massimo Minini and Italics, photo © Danilo Donzelli and Mauro Palumb
Envisioned as a journey through a layered territory where Greek and Roman imperial ruins, and the myths that permeated these grounds, intertwine with the contemporary contributions of the over 100 artworks on display, ‘Panorama’ verges on the theme of deification, conceptualized by Parisi more as an interrogation of how the sacred and profane can coexist in the present-day, rather than a nostalgic celebration of old gods and heroes. ‘Uncertain Future’—a crystal ball by Wilfredo Prieto installed on a Corinthian capital in the underground chambers of the Flavian Amphitheatre—sets us off on our archaeological tour through the fragile remnants of history and what looks like an unintelligible present. Aboveground, Simone Fattal’s bronze sculptures revive the arched facade, while ecstatic chants from ‘D’incanto,’ a soundtrack by Clarissa Baldassarri, transform the monumental architecture into a body speaking in tongues. Yuri Ancarani’s docu-film ‘Séance,’ screened at Cinema Sofia (named after the famed Italian actress Sofia Loren), is shrouded in a similar hypnotic atmosphere, showing psychologist Albània Tomassini in conversation with the spirit of architect Carlo Mollino, discussing the joy of creation and the pursuit of creative perfection.
Clarissa Baldassarri: ‘D’incanto,’ 2024/25, installation view Panorama Pozzuoli 2025 // Courtesy of the artist, Gian Marco Casini Gallery and Italics, photo © Danilo Donzelli and Mauro Palumb
Further along, in the subterraneans of Rione Terra, Oliver Beer’s sound-based installation ‘Household Gods (Sister)’ exalts the echoes of the underworld, and turns personal affections into domestic deities. Giusy Pirrotta’s ceramic sculptures challenge traditional representations of femininity through zoomorphic limbs and busts, and esoteric candle holders. Simon Dybbroe Møller’s ‘Retinal Rift’ captures the uncanny encounter of the human vis-à-vis the machine eye, taking as its subject the red-eye effect in flash photography. Mario Merz taps into infinity through his artistic research around the Fibonacci sequence.
Oliver Beer: ‘Household Gods (Sister),’ 2019, installation view Panorama Pozzuoli 2025 // Courtesy of the artist, Thaddeus Ropac Gallery and Italics, photo © Danilo Donzelli and Mauro Palumb
In another part of town, the surreal drawings of Sandra Vásquez de la Horra turn an old shop into an intimate exploration of the unconscious; Goshka Macuga’s clay stalagmites sprout from the floor and stalactites drip from the ceiling, conferring an earthy, bodily, sanguine atmosphere to the exhibition space. Her prehistoric rock formations tell stories of environmental destruction and creation, and seamlessly interact with the volcanic backdrop. Maurizio Cattelan, Anish Kapoor, Jannis Kounellis, Elmgreen & Dragset, David Tremlett are amongst the many more artists featured.
Sandra Vasquez de la Horra, installation view Panorama Pozzuoli 2025 // Courtesy of the artist, Magazzino and Italics, photo © Danilo Donzelli and Mauro Palumb
Goshka Macuga, installation view Panorama Pozzuoli 2025 // Courtesy of the artist, Vistamare and Italics, photo © Danilo Donzelli and Mauro Palumb
Only seven kilometers away from Pozzuoli lies Cumae, the first Greek colony in southern Italy and home to the Cumaean Sibyl, who presided over the Apollonian temple. The legend goes, she would write her oracles on oak leaves, which, left at the entrance of her cave, were scattered by the wind, mixing up the fates of those who came to consult her. In her cave, at the end of a long tunnel carved out of tuff, an animated film by William Kentridge marks the end of Panorama. ‘Sibyl’ is a single-channel video accompanied by a moving piano score and a South African chorus, in which the prophetic leaves are replaced by pages of dictionaries and encyclopaedias, where Kentridge’s signature hand-drawings, as well as quotes from proverbs and poems, appear in succession. “Your days will become years. Your years will become places”; “But no place will resist destruction” admonishes the artist, “Wait for better gods. Wait for better people.”
William Kentridge: ‘Sibyl,’ 2020, installation View Panorama Pozzuoli 2025 // Courtesy of the artist, Galleria Lia Rumma and Italics, photo © Danilo Donzelli and Mauro Palumb
In the idolatrous world in which we live today, where religion is turned into an instrument of war and the only gods worshipped are the gilded personifications of profit and wealth, at ‘Panorama,’ Parisi invites the artists to reflect on what is worth deifying, what can withstand time and become a symbol for transcendence. As a result, rather than enshrined in a fixed category, in Pozzuoli the divine is found in the very coexistence of antiquity and modernity, longevity and transience; in the synchronous interaction of so many artistic testaments. “There will be no epiphany, no protection, but each other’s limbs,” sings Kentridge’s sibyl.
