La Pace è stanca by Paola Romoli Venturi, a month dedicated to talking about Peace at Mesia Space - as part of the Humanity?! project - through an installation in the storefront window on Largo Mesia and three performative projects by Paola Romoli Venturi in the studio on Via Vulci: ‘il gioco della Pace’, ROVESCIARE confini and ‘La Pace è stanca’.
‘la Pace è stanca’ (2025) Site-specific installation featuring the artifacts from the sound performance la Pace è stanca (made during the chamber music festival I Tramonti di Tinia), in which P. Romoli Venturi engraved the word PEACE onto metal plates prepared with contact microphones. The act of engraving producing a sound that embodies the voice of peace, weary in the face of so many wars. After being “played,” the plates were inked and pressed, resulting in a drypoint triptych that visually captures the sound-based action.
Cutting is a form of self-harm that young people often use to express their inner distress.
Paola Romoli Venturi engraves words onto paper/skin as a way of expressing the pain and discomfort caused by both old and ongoing wars. On display are twelve cardboard panels with the word Peace engraved in different languages, along with four additional panels engraved with the phrases: ‘sono una lacrima’, ‘la Pace è stanca’, ‘la terra che tutti vogliono è terra morta’, ‘una pace disarmata e disarmante, umile e perseverante’.
‘il gioco della Pace’ (2024) is a performative sculpture composed of eight dice in different colors and the game instructions. On the 48 faces of the dice are letters from the international alphabet, one accent mark, and three smile/joker faces that can be used to form the word Peace in various languages. During the performance the dice are rolled, and the audience is invited to play il gioco della Pace’ together. ‘il gioco della Pace’ is played all together, in Freedom.
‘ROVESCIARE confini’ (2019) Textile artwork, embroidery and patchwork, participatory workshop-performance. Overturning the world map can generate a borderless map.
The political maps of the world are dismantled and redrawn, creating a new map.
The audience participates by stitching together the tears caused by borders.
The three participatory performances and the talks will be opportunities to engage in dialogue and reflect on the theme of PEACE, a concept that has become central to the artistic practice of Paola Romoli Venturi.
Wars, freedom, borders, genocides, justice, landmines, and peace are topics that must be explored and addressed daily to achieve Justice, Freedom, and Peace for all.
From October 4 to 31, during the exhibition La Pace è stanca by Paola Romoli Venturi, there will be interactions between different venues: MESIA Space, Art Exhibition Link, and the exhibition ‘Preziose Miniature’ at the Biblioteca Vallicelliana. Three talks will also take place at MESIA Space: ‘Confini di pace e di guerra’ with journalist Giuliano Battiston, "Bum... Pam... Ratatatà... La Pace non può essere solo un sogno" with representatives from OMNES… oltre i confini ODV, ‘Musica e Pace’ with composer Riccardo Santoboni.
CALENDAR October 4 to 31, 2025
Saturday, 4
MESIA space, Via Vulci 32
5:00 PM – Opening of ‘La Pace è stanca’ by Paola Romoli Venturi
6:00 PM – Presentation of the project ‘La Pace è stanca’ tra MESIA space e Art Exhibition Link- Artists Studio Roma', with Paola Romoli Venturi, Barbara Goebels-Cattaneo, and representatives of MESIA SPACE
Followed by participatory performance ‘il gioco della Pace’, led by Paola Romoli Venturi
The Game of Peace (il gioco della Pace) is played together in freedom. Dice are rolled, and the game begins.
Thursday, 9
Vallicelliana Library of Rome, Piazza della Chiesa Nuova 18, Borromini Hall, second floor
5:00 PM – 7:00 PM – Closing event of the group exhibition Preziose Miniature, curated by Stefania Balestri
With participatory performance ‘il gioco della Pace’, led by Paola Romoli Venturi
The Game of Peace (il gioco della Pace) is one of the 66 precious miniatures on display.
On the occasion of the finissage, Paola Romoli Venturi will activate the small performative sculpture, which will come out of the display case, allowing attendees to play The Game of Peace.
Wednesday, 15 - Thursday, 16 - Friday, 17
MESIA space, Via Vulci 32
5:00 PM – 8:00 PM – Workshop performance ‘ROVESCIARE confini’
State borders are cut and re-stitched by flipping the world map.
The participatory workshop performance ‘ROVESCIARE confini’, held at MESIA space, Via Vulci 32 on October 15, 16, and 17, is FREE ENTRY. Reservations are appreciated via WhatsApp at +39 349 0637318 or by email at 4finestre@gmail.com
Political maps of the world are deconstructed and redrawn, creating a new map.
The audience participates by stitching together the rips created by borders.
Thursday, 16
MESIA space, Via Vulci 32.
6:00 PM – talk ‘Confini di pace e di guerra’, with Giuliano Battiston, journalist and freelance researcher, director of the association Lettera22 and the Rivista Corvialista, contributor to il manifesto, l’Espresso, Gli asini, ISPI, and lecturer at the Lelio Basso School of Journalism in Rome.
Monday, 20
Art Exhibition Link – Artists Studio Roma, Borgo Pio 125, Rome Third floor – buzz Art Exhibition Link
6:00 PM – Opening of the site-specific installation ‘La Pace è stanca’ by Paola Romoli Venturi
featuring a preview of the video of the performance ‘La Pace è stanca’ created for the chamber music festival I Tramonti di Tinia.
7:00 PM – Artist talk 'Il Progetto ‘La Pace è stanca’ tra MESIA Space e Art Exhibition Link- Artists Studio Roma' with Paola Romoli Venturi and representatives from MESIA Space.
The event is part of the RAW – Rome Art Week 2025 calendar.
Site-specific installation featuring the artifacts from the sound performance ‘la Pace è stanca’, in which Paola Romoli Venturi engraved the word PEACE onto metal plates prepared with contact microphones. The act of engraving producing a sound that embodies the voice of peace, weary in the face of so many wars.
Cutting is a form of self-harm that young people often use to express their inner distress.
Paola Romoli Venturi engraves words onto paper/skin as a way of expressing the pain and discomfort caused by both old and ongoing wars.
Saturday, 25
MESIA space, Via Vulci 32
4:00 PM – “Incontri” Book presentation: "Bum... Pam... Ratatatà... La Pace non può essere solo un sogno" A talk with OMNES…oltre i confini ODV, the “Umanità?!” Project by MESIA Space, and “La Pace è stanca” by Paola Romoli Venturi.
The event is part of the 2025 edition of "Oltre i confini. Incontri di Arte, Cultura e Diritti Umani", held in Castelbuono di Bevagna, and connected to the events surrounding the Perugia–Assisi Peace March on October 12, 2025.
The event is part of the RAW – Rome Art Week 2025 calendar.
A book that tells the stories of and gives voice to the “children of war,” who “have the right to dream, to follow the trail of music, to find what they are looking for: Peace.”
A book born from the encounters and experiences gathered over the years through the various activities carried out by the association OMNES…oltre i confini ODV.
Friday, 31
MESIA space, Via Vulci 32
5:00 PM – Closing of the exhibition with the screening of the video performance ‘La Pace è stanca’ by Paola Romoli Venturi, created for the chamber music festival I Tramonti di Tinia.
6:00 PM – talk ‘Musica e Pace’ with Riccardo Santoboni, composer and professor,
who will present the project "Suoni per la Pace", developed at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, featuring listening sessions of both contemporary and historical pieces inspired by the theme of peace. With the participation of cellist Fiorenzo Santoboni.
An event to listen, reflect, and build bridges through sound.
Followed by a live sound performance of ‘La Pace è stanca’ by Paola Romoli Venturi.
Live electronics by Riccardo Santoboni.
Paola Romoli Venturi was born in Rome, where she lives and works. Her artistic research is linked to the value of transparency as a means to communicate. 'Transparency and suspension prepare the visitor to "look through", not to look away, to observe things to reflect' this is the inspiring thought of her performances and installations exhibited in Italy and abroad. In her work, she touches on social themes, creating spaces designed by lights, shadows, and sounds, using different pictorial, sculptural means of expression, audio, video, and site-specific performative installations.
Among her projects:Traspaquadri (2004/2006), mOlecOle (2007) madre natura (2007), instant art_vedova di guerra_Alessandra (2008), La Sentenza_Das Urteil (2009/2010), instat art_SI=NO (2011) PTV_ Paola Trash Vortex (2012/2016) SALVA LA TUA BALENA! (2013/2019) ARMA LETALE (2015/2019) MANTRAreading (2015/2019) WE(2016) Caos, caso, osa, sa, o. (2016) MEMORIE: MAIN MEMORY, BY HEART, PAR COEUR (2017) Saluti da Carrara! (2018/2019) transfusioni project (2016/2020) ROVESCIARE (2019/2025), DIARIO_dichecoloreè? (2020) MEMORIALE (2018/ performative sculpture in itere) il cappello del momento! (2021), Non riesco a tornare a casa (2021), 4finestre - STEMMA STORNELLATO (2021), Second Life (2021), BASOLO’s View (2019), sound performance BASOLO’s Sound - embodied map (2022), L’erba voglio (2022), ‘Sono una lacrima’ (2022), "Sono una lacrima" (2022), Participatory performance "SECOND LIFE" (2023, Bogliasco Foundation – Festival della Scienza, Genoa). Site-specific installations: "Il luogo del delitto" (2024, Piazza Albina, Rome – OPENBOX5) and "ISOLA dell’Aventino" (2024, Garden of Sant’Alessio, Rome – OPENBOX5). "ISOLE_Paola Trash Vortex" and the "Bandiera della Creatività" (2024, Secret Garden of Golfo Grancaro, Bolsena). She also created the performative sculpture "Il gioco della Pace / the game of PEACE" (2024). In 2025, as part of the chamber music festival "I Tramonti di Tinia", she presented her first sound performance, "La Pace è stanca" (2025). She is currently working on "cutting sound".
