From April 10 to June 26, 2026, Momart Gallery will host REMAIN(S), a group exhibition curated by Antonella Marino, bringing into dialogue the artistic practices of Michela Rondinone and Luca Granato.
The exhibition brings together two young artists from Southern Italy united by a shared reflection on the concept of the “remnant.” The title itself unfolds a dual tension: on one side, remains as material traces, visible residues of something that has occurred; on the other, to remain, understood as a conscious act of staying, of maintaining a relationship with one’s place of origin. This ambivalence defines the curatorial framework of the exhibition, which explores the fragment not as a passive leftover of the past, but as an element capable of generating meaning in the present.
Both artists are deeply connected to the territories of Basilicata, Puglia, and Calabria, developing situated practices that emerge from the intersection between local identity and broader global perspectives. While sharing an interest in the notion of trace, their approaches diverge in both method and intention.
In Michela Rondinone’s work (Matera, 1999), the remnant becomes a space of openness and potential. Her research unfolds through relational and process-based practices, where play operates as a cognitive tool and a means of spatial construction. Materials such as plaster, plasticine, and ceramics register gestures and preserve their imprints, giving rise to forms in constant transformation. Her works emerge from actions, encounters, and interactions, presenting themselves as the evolving outcomes of open-ended processes.
Conversely, in Luca Granato’s practice (Cosenza, 1999), the remnant assumes a more critical and political dimension. His practice engages with marked materials such as ash, textiles, and recovered objects, imbued with layered, often traumatic memories. Themes such as depopulation, marginality, migration, and environmental transformation surface through images that do not describe but rather evoke. Here, the trace becomes what remains of a rupture: a fragile presence that testifies to absence and loss.
REMAIN(S) thus unfolds as a space of tension between two ways of understanding the remnant: as a generative opening and as the sign of a wound. In both practices, however, the fragment is never a mere residue, but an active form of presence, one that persists, transforms, and continues to act within time.
The exhibition will be open until May 28, 2026, with visiting hours from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM and 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM at Momart Gallery, every day except Wednesdays.