With Ceramics & Suond, Canova22 presents two new works by Pierluigi Pompei: Linea d'origine (2021) and Vocum (2022), a tribute to the Venetian sculptor Antonio Canova.

The “Ceramics & Sound” exhibition represents for the artist the opportunity to return to Rome for the first time after almost 30 years in that place where Antonio Canova worked, representative of the academic tradition from which Pompeii partly derives. With his new work, Pierluigi Pompei seeks to enter into dialogue with the sculptor, his history, tradition and craftsmanship, and how these resonate in the present.

A bridge between past and present, which fits perfectly with the objectives of Canova22: to present contemporary works of art that shed new light on the past by entering into dialogue with history.

Linea d'orizzonte is an interdisciplinary work of art composed of ceramic elements developed by carefully mixing cobalt oxide with clay in various shades of color. The starting point for the development of the composition was the desire to create a dynamic, spatial and narrative sound experience which, together with the image, improved the experience of the user, who in this way is enveloped by the work. Pompeii creates an autonomous and immersive acoustic-visual situation, in which the sounds remain contained within a small ideal universe where the visitor can look and listen from the best possible point.

Vocum is composed of three ceramic sound sculptures and is the result of research on synesthesia that Pompei began in 2016. Each sculpture is composed of two instrumental voices which are made audible thanks to shapes that naturally amplify the sound.

This artistic research is aimed at expressing the synergy between colour, sound and materiality with the consequent development of new colours, new proportions and new possible textures of surfaces and glazes.

Vocum will be presented for the first time at the CANOVA22 gallery.

The Ceramics & Sound exhibition is organized with the contribution of the Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie (Stimulus Fund for the Creative Industry of Rotterdam), the Stokroos Foundation and the EKWC (European Ceramics Center in Oisterwijk).

The exhibition will remain open from Tuesday 24 October to Saturday 2 December, every day from 4pm to 8pm.