Carte che Vivono brings together fourteen remarkable pop-up books that turn paper into space, structure and storytelling. Each work invites close, unhurried attention, drawing the viewer in and opening a quiet space for the imagination.

Carte che vivono, a title suggested by Dacia Maraini, captures the spirit of Guido Bonacci’s work: the page is no longer a flat surface, but a place where matter, memory and imagination begin to unfold.

The project is rooted in the artist’s patient, meticulous research. Bonacci works with ancient, rare and precious papers gathered from around the world, bringing them out of archival stillness and giving them a new life. Through collage and finely crafted paper engineering, he creates miniature scenes and small paper theatres that come alive with the simple, revealing act of turning a page.

The exhibition is structured around ten thematic paths that consider the book as an artwork, a space of perception and a form of visual narrative. In each volume, the history of the materials meets the clarity of Bonacci’s design, creating a subtle balance between craft, composition and poetic imagination.

Paper sculptures: books that disturb the stillness of the page, opening into light, unexpected structures.

Animated pages: discreet mechanisms set the page in motion, revealing unexpected visual stories.

Geographies of the soul: papers from different cultures come together in a shared visual language, forming a delicate map of inner and outer journeys.

Presented during Rome Art Week, Carte che Vivono invites visitors to slow down and look closely. In a world increasingly shaped by screens and immaterial experience, Bonacci’s work brings us back to the presence of matter, the value of the handmade and the book as a precious object: an intimate space for the eye to pause and the imagination to enter.