Dialogue through space

The exhibition The Remains of Nothing at the Museo Madre in Naples, organised in collaboration with the University Archives of the University of Naples Federico II, the Vincenzo Agnetti Archive and the Nanda Vigo Archive. The project was inspired by Enzo Striano’s 1986 novel about Eleonora de Fonseca Pimentel and the Neapolitan Republic of 1799. It explores the social and anthropological changes in Naples during a transformative period.

The work of Aldo Loris Rossi, a key figure in Italian architecture of the 1960s who collaborated with Donatella Mazzoleni, is presented with drawings that combine organic forms, expressionism, futurism and constructivist influences, including the Casa del Portuale and the Piazza Grande housing complex, examples of Brutalist architecture in Naples. The exhibition questions the emotional and social implications of living in these spaces, asking who lives there and how these spaces shape their emotional lexicon. Contemporary visual artists respond to these issues. Tobias Zielony’s work focuses on Rossi’s constructions, while Vincenzo Agnetti and Nanda Vigo draw conceptual parallels with Rossi’s utopian visions. Artists such as RM, Domenico Salierno, Jim C. Nedd, Giulio Delvè and Özgür Kar explore emotional landscapes, feelings of entrapment and the urban dimension of Naples.

The exhibition The Remains of Nothing marks Museo Madre’s first public-private collaboration with Gucci, bringing a collective narrative to the cultural heart of Naples through installations, photographs, models, sound works, videos, neon sculptures and architectural sketches. It continues the Museo Madre’s focus on Naples as a Mediterranean metropolis reinventing itself.