The Eitch Borromini Art Gallery was born in Rome with its first major cultural project, in a prestigious place of the Eitch Borromini hotel. The historic building built between 1644 and 1955 is a masterpiece by architect Francesco Borromini. The Soul of Great Beauty, is the title of the Gallery project, created and carefully selected by Sveva Manfredi Zavaglia with the support of the artist Angelica Romeo. You will be developing a cycle of exhibitions of Italian and international artists. The first exhibition has an impressive title Absence Presences, in places like these that still preserve traces of underpasses used by Pope Innocent X Pamphilj. The exhibition features five artists from the Italian national scene: Angelica Romeo, painter; Chicca Savino, sculptor and painter; Francesca Merola, mosaicist; Marco Girolami, photographer; Quirino Cipolla, sculptor and painter.
Interview to the art curator Sveva Manfredi Zavaglia
1-How is your path in Art born?
I was born surrounded by the art world ever since. My maternal grandmother, who grew up abroad, a passionate acquaintance of the world of international art in the postwar period, attended many artists and cared for exhibitions at the French Cultural Center in Rome. Very friendly of Germain Bazin in Paris, with whom I had to take the tiny tea or Federico Zeri in Rome. I have been following, albeit from a very young age, the various artistic currents of academies and exhibitions in Italy and France. For twenty years I have been working as a curator and not just myself. I want to create, with my work in a continuous study, an approach to art as an indispensable tool for understanding the contemporary world. In recent years, I have been focusing mainly on museum exhibitions in Italy and abroad.
2-What is the sense of your experience?
I would like a good art for everyone. I want art to come to everyone. Get to the audience and passionate about it, as I love each new project. Art and beauty help us to rediscover ourselves a bit, the beautiful creates emotions capable of acting on the mind positively and helps us to revise the future society.
3-The project of the Borromini Art Gallery?
Several months ago I met Angelica Romeo, one of the great Roman artists who participated in the exhibition to which they had proposed the space and thanked for being involved with me. The creators of the New Ebury Borromini, great art enthusiasts, wanted to create the 4th floor of this special building, an Art Gallery. In a place so full of history, I find it perfect for a Contemporary Art Gallery. Our History of Art is present in the Eternal, between Borromini’s architecture and Bernini’s works. Contemporary art has been called to contaminate in its own way the historic beauty of the place.
4-Do we talk about the absences presence?
The title of the Absence Presence exhibition recalls the historicity of the place. The artists have worked and created a bridge between present and past, between attendance and absence, with a new cycle of works in dialogue. The artists had already worked together and shared this project to create a new space for art in the heart of Rome. You will find different art techniques and expressions such as sculpture, painting, photography and mosaic in perfect harmony with the environment. The artists follow each one of the deeply felt inner research and in this project they have expressed themselves remarkably and in sharing, as you will see from their works. I would like to dwell on the word “Sharing” as an aspect of Art that has been lost and that in this case we would like to re-acquire.
5-The artists present at the exhibition?
The artists have practically chosen, they are artists who have worked together. They share a lot of their work with each other, which is not easy on these days as I said. Their works are rich in poetry, study and inner research, excellent in technique and quality.
Angelica Romeo, a painter of abstract, material art, in a synergy of absolute forms on the canvas with the colors of the past that come back with preponderance in the present, in perfect dialogue with the exhibition site.
Chicca Savino, painter and sculptor, with her the color exults with the geometries and the various materials. He creates ironic, sparkling, unique and personal designs with the use of the “square”.
Francesca Merola, mosaic, the patience of an ancient technique revisited on modern geometries, statues, busts, and faces, whose cleverly alternating tessels follows the complexity of the human figure almost to tell its inner suffering and beauty.
Marco Girolami, photographer, lover and master of black and white, his shots pull out the visible and not the soul of the people he portrays. The beauty of the essence that transmits true emotions.
And Quirino Cipolla, a sculptor and painter, starting from raw material by modulating various materials, creates his figurative sculptures of soul expression. These almost live presences awaken many corners of the exhibition venue.
6- What do you want to send to the new audience?
The Borromini gallery has a function of change both for the place and for the structure, renovation and support of artists and Art. It’s not just a question of culture, but it’s about knowing how to live in the most practical way. You should learn Art to use it every day. Everything around us uses Art. I think we need more Art in our lives. Lisa Phillips (author, journalist and mentor) at The artistic edge tells us, a thought that I share in full, that art is instrumental to everyone, to develop their skills in terms of creative thought, confidence, solving problems and ability to Build effective relationships. Art therefore frees our creativity and increases the feeling of satisfaction for one’s life.
7- Projects that Will Follow?
In the Borromini Art Gallery we hope to create new future projects in a continuous dialogue with galleries, between Italian and international art as well as my fundamental approach to the future of Art. Creating a synergy and an exchange between different realities. Interact directly to young people to promote culture at all levels. I think Art, like technology, are the indispensable tools to better understand the world today. What better place to start from Rome.
8-What do you want to do in the future of Art?
I would like a good art for everyone. I want art to come to everyone. Get to the audience and passionate about it, as I love each new project. Art and beauty help us to rediscover ourselves a bit, beautiful creates emotions capable of acting on the mind positively and helps us to revise the future society.
The exhibition, which is unique in its kind, is depicted in a rather state-of-the-art layout combining the past with the present to give the future generations the sense of time given by art.
Sixty-one works, which see the light in such a highly international space. Some already known to the public, others more unpublished, but all born to become something that leads to a collective and symbolic reconnaissance as indicated by the curator’s text: “Bounce between Assumption Attendees, the essence of time in the artistic research of the five artists. Their inner world finds an appropriate location for the project that runs through the space-time a journey of present and memory. ”
The guided route starts from the courtyard and develops mainly on the 4th floor of the building where in the large corridors are exposed works, specially designed for different environments and told through various art techniques. On this particular occasion, you will be able to admire the tallest terrace of the building, called “Grande Bellezza”, which represents the flagship of Hotel Eich Borromini. From there you can admire a breathtaking view of the beautiful Piazza Navona and the Eternal City.
During the long exposition period, performances and performances are scheduled in June, July, September with the artists of the exhibition.
The history of the place: The historic residence, formerly Innocentrian College, has been restored and transformed into a hotel, the Heitch Borromini. It was inhabited since the early ‘600 by Pope Innocent X Pamphilj and his relatives who entrusted the project to Francesco Borromini. The architect, under the leadership of the Pope, was not only concerned with the restoration of the palace but also the restoration of the scenic layout of the whole square, building the Church of Santa Agnese in Agone. Today the whole complex is one of the most important symbols of the culture and architecture of the Capital and of Italy.
To maintain this profound symbolic connection with the culture of Pamphili’s time, one wanted to dedicate an exhibition space, the Eitch Borromini Art Gallery, a virtual bridge between past and present.
The curator Sveva Manfredi Zavaglia
Art Consultant for Museums and International Cultural Management Marketing. For over twenty years, she want to constantly create a work of art approach as an indispensable tool for understanding the contemporary world and to create a dialogue between Italian and international art, show common values and contact points. As a cultural project manager she have a thorough knowledge of the various processes involved in the realization of great events. She created and realized over 50 exhibitions and shows – personal and collective – installations and interventions in public spaces in Italy and abroad as in France, England, Belgium and USA. He has also been a jury and curator in art competitions and auctions for no profit. His goal is to encourage and improve the culture and the artistic exchange among exceptional artists from different historical contexts.
Eitch Borromini Gallery
Via di Santa Maria dell’Anima, 30 in Rome – Tel: +39 06 686 1425
Exhibition Period “Absence Presence”: May 17 – September 17, 2017
Free admission – entrance: Monday to Sunday 10.30-20
Curator: Sveva Manfredi Zavaglia
Info: galleriaborromini@gmail.com
Igor W. Schiaroli is specialized in new media and technology. He has expertise in publishing and media sector. He is an independent journalist and a writer but primary a technologist and an economist too. He has passion and curiousity about science and travel.
He had major roles for Italian and International Media and Telecommunications companies.