CANOVA22 is a cultural association that carries out its activity in the ancient furnace of Antonio Canova in the heart of the historic center of Rome.
Located a few steps away from the great sculptor’s studio, the Furnace was the place, as painter Francesco Hayez writes, where “Canova made his model in clay” (Memories, 1890). The furnace has a circular shape with three lateral niches and the central part that rises upwards with an "eye" open towards the sky. Its shape, the circle, is one of the most powerful archaic symbols with infinite meanings.
Today the Ancient Furnace, strategically positioned in front of the Academy of Fine Arts, between Via del Corso, Via Margutta and Via di Ripetta, historically the triangle of artists who embarked on their artworks from the nearby Porto sul Tevere, it opens up to the arts, it becomes a platform for exhibition, training and cultural projects; a unique space that turns from time to time depending on the events that animate it.
In this place the cultural association Canova22 was born, formed by a group of artists and operators from the entertainment world to spread the art declined in every form and language. The alchemy of this place, which still vibrates with the creative energy of Canova, is realized in the contamination of the arts, in the confluence of ancient and contemporary, in the dialogue between figurative art, music and dance.
Canova’s Furnace is a true laboratory of ideas, a project space that, through the multiple languages of visual and performing arts, aims to spread the culture of art as a fundamental resource for society, to build together thought, sensitivity, confrontation and knowledge. More than a co-working space, it is a co-living space, a meeting place with a high creative content, which mixes the benefits of sharing space with the advantages of exchanging ideas and energies generated by the mixing of artists and cultural operators that find themselves at the creative table to build events. An art factory in a place with a high emotional impact where creatives and visitors benefit from an eclectic calendar of powerful events, starting with exhibitions, performances and holistic practices. With this network model and these goals, Canova22 intends to attract, intrigue and satisfy the most varied needs of an attentive and informed public.
Fiorenza d'Alessandro, artistic director, and the members of Canova 22 work with great enthusiasm and passion for the promotion of cultural exchanges between the public and "experts", involving artists who use all the languages of the contemporary, photographers, choreographers, musicians, video makers, architects, to explore new content rich in all those precious creative processes that also favor the emergence of new trends.
In this place, with a strong personality and a history that still echoes in every stone, photographic and painting, drawing and sculpture exhibitions have been realized; famous and emerging artists have alternated; installations and performances were hosted. Great space is dedicated to music and theater and dance performances; moreover, meditation and breath meetings, Yoga practice, private and corporate events are held.