In 2024, the Pastificio Cerere Foundation celebrates twenty years since its establishment with the opening of a new exhibition space — designed by the STARTT architecture studio — and two exhibitions curated by artistic director Marcello Smarrelli.
The Pastificio Cerere Foundation will present the group exhibition Angels. Fifty Years of Stories of Pastificio Cerere, curated by artistic director Marcello Smarrelli, which will be open to the public from Thursday, October 3, until Saturday, November 30, 2024.
The Foundation is based in the former Pastificio Cerere, the oldest factory in the San Lorenzo district, founded in 1905 and made famous thanks to the work of the artists from the “San Lorenzo Group” – Bruno Ceccobelli, Gianni Dessì, Giuseppe Gallo, Nunzio, Pizzi Cannella, Marco Tirelli – who were the first to recognize the potential of this abandoned site and decided to move their studios there. It was the 1970s, and from that moment, the progressive conversion of the industrial spaces into ateliers began, transforming the former factory into a hub of the Roman cultural scene, a laboratory of interdisciplinary creativity highly receptive to new trends and artistic avant-garde, and one of the earliest and most successful examples of urban regeneration.
Angels. Fifty Years of Stories of Pastificio Cerere is a visual narrative spanning half a century of cultural history, conceived to paint a portrait of the former pasta factory and reconstruct the creative energy that has characterized it from the 1970s to the present day. The exhibition’s title, Angels, is inspired by the famous photographic series of “angels” (From Angel series, 1977; From a series on Angels, 1977; Angels, 1977-1978), created by artist Francesca Woodman (Denver, 1958 – New York, 1981) between May 1977 and August 1978 in the spaces of the former factory. In some of these photos, the artist portrays herself wearing only a white cotton petticoat, while large sheets of paper in the background evoke the image of angelic wings. The exhibition project, curated in collaboration with the STARTT architecture studio, is divided into several sections designed to intertwine past and present, paying homage to the key figures who shaped the history of Pastificio Cerere.
Another significant new development will be the opening of a museum-oriented space that will house a permanent collection, set to grow over time with site-specific works created in dialogue with the industrial archaeology relics of the abandoned factory. Additionally, the second volume of the Albo d’oro will be published, expanding the narrative of the first ten years of activity covered in the first volume, published in 2019.
With the initiatives organized to mark its 20th anniversary, the Pastificio Cerere Foundation reaffirms its commitment to continuing its role as an increasingly international institution dedicated to contemporary artistic production, a cultural hub for meeting and exchange, especially for young artists.
