QUI GIACE UN FULMINE CADUTO

Here lies a fallen thunderbolt; I repeat these words mechanically in my head. I think of ancient civilizations of uncertain origin. It is said that for a long time these people have looked to the sky to know the future, observed and studied celestial geometries, cherishing the illusion of grasping the future. Rabbit-hearted as I am, I have never had such vagaries: I prefer a lowered gaze and turn with my thoughts to those ancient people who, for centuries, have entrusted to the earth the role of guardian of the past. It is to the earth that humanity has given its roots, and it is precisely from them that we start to reconstruct what we are and what we have been: an endless archive of meanings to be sought, a mass of ruins. Scum.

From this tension between high and low, visible and not visible is born the thought of Qui giace un fulmine caduto; a choral exhibition that aims to reason on the role of the work of art as a universal instrument of reading and understanding contemporaneity. The title itself refers to an ancient ritual – Etruscan, then Roman – that consisted in consecrating the exact spot where lightning strikes the ground, a space that became a place of worship, uniting the human dimension with the divine. In the same way, the works on display are presented as tangible signs of an encounter between opposing forces. The creative act – obsessive, liturgical, sometimes vertiginous – is configured as a device capable of telling five different stories: a sandwich at sunset, fear, everyday objects, urinating in public, the body. Through the work of five artists – Jerico Cabrera, Livia Giuliani, Flavio Orlando, Giuseppe Sciortino, Jacopo Zambello – the exhibition, conceived as a sensitive archive, represents a wide variety of impulses, united by the choice of using a surface as a metaphorical platform or screen on which genres mix, transform and collide to help the viewer’s gaze decipher the complexity of the present. What emerges is a large map in which different places and epochs can coexist, placing themselves in a suspended time and putting the most consolidated visual strategies to the test.

Giorgia Achilarre

Artists Biography

Giorgia Achilarre (Turin, 1994) is an art curator, currently Assistant Curator at Fondazione La Quadriennale in Rome.
After training in Communication and Enhancement of Contemporary Artistic Heritage, she was cultrice of the subject for the chairs of History of Contemporary Art and History and Criticism of Television at the Academy of Fine Arts in Turin.
In 2024, she was assistant curator of the Azerbaijan Pavilion at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia.
Recent projects include collaborating on Verso Altrove, a monumental work by artist Luca Vitone; the #SERIALMANIA exhibition at the National Museum of Cinema in Turin; the co-curatorship of the editing docufilm POPSCREEN presented at the 40th Turin Film Festival. Recent exhibitions he has collaborated on include: (2024) Io sono una forza del passato, Gallerie d’Italia – Intesa Sanpaolo, Milan; (2023) Mario Schifano / Andy Warhol, Photos & Polaroid, Eataly Art House, Verona; Alberto Moravia. Non so perchè non ho fatto il pittore, GAM – Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Turin; SUPERNOVA, Gallerie d’Italia – Intesa Sanpaolo, Milan; Vorrei rinascere con le ali, Villa Rey, Turin; VOLTI. Italian portrait painting in the 20th century, Villa del Balbianello, Lecco; (2022) Riccardo Dalisi ’71 – ’74, Circolo del Design, Turin; Tra pennelli e immagini virtuali, Gallerie d’Italia – Intesa Sanpaolo, Milan.
Her texts have been published in various exhibition catalogs and independent art magazines.

Jerico Cabrera Carandang (Rosario, Philippines, 1992) studied painting disciplines at Liceo Artistico Caravaggio in Rome, then continued his education as a self-taught artist with a particular interest in urban art. In 2021 he co-founded Porto Simpatica, an independent space dedicated to artistic experimentation in Rome. With a strong focus on muralism and graffiti art, his research moves between painting and public art, always starting from the basic assumption that makes painting his primary address. He has participated in numerous urban interventions, including (2024) Crepuscoli, Atina (FR); (2020) Supernova, Rome; (2019) Tienime Ca Tetengo, Naples; (2015) Big City Life, Rome. His first solo exhibition, Fade to Blue, was presented in 2016 at White Noise Gallery, Rome. He has exhibited in solo and group shows, including: (2024) Great Expectation, Spazio Mensa, Rome; (2022) Scoppio terzo, borgo di Scoppio (TR); (2020) Bridge to Babylon, Contemporary Cluster, Rome; (2019) Museo Naturalistico Monte Soratte, Sant’Oreste (RM); (2018) Arte | Musica | Natura, Orto Botanico di Roma.
In 2019 he was artistic director of the international project YouHood in Melilla, Spain.

Livia Giuliani (Rome, 1991) graduated in Graphic Art, Illustration and Art Publishing from the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. In 2021 she co-founded the Slow Love art review and the following year she was the winner of the Female Artists Summit Award from Casa delle Donne, Rome. In 2023 she participated in the residency program HOLOS – Dialetti visivi in Pineta Laives (BZ). She is currently assistant to artist Paolo Laudisa, whose archive she curates.
In her installations she uses digital techniques, different media, personal texts and limericks to evoke a hypnotic and dreamy atmosphere.
Her recent exhibitions include: (2024) Query – The instability of the material, Museo Guzman – MEC, Orbetello (GR) and Frascati (RM); SACRARIO, Barlina, Rome; (2023) Un azzurro filare a gocce, Curva Pura, Rome; Tropismi della memoria, Spazio Y, Rome; (2022) D O U B L E F A C E, Studio Fair Legals, Rome; Ex Corpo, Ex Garage, Rome; Impressum Est, Vallicelliana Library, Rome; (2021) First International Digital Print Art Exhibition, Beijing; Slow Love, Mons Art Gallery, Rome; Slow Love Vol. II, Ex Garage, Rome.

Flavio Orlando (Rome, 1991) received a second-level diploma in Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome.
In Orlando’s practice, everyday experiences, memories and sensations are used as an investigative tool to decipher reality and transform the value of images.
His work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions, including: (2024) Tappa Fissa, Contemporary Cluster, Rome; Drive Me Acid, M.L.A.C. – Museo Laboratorio Arte Contemporanea, Rome; (2023) Sottovesti, Chiostro della Basilica di Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, Rome; Contestabile, Contemporary Cluster, Rome; (2022) I Am a Broken Mirror, Palazzo Orsini, Bomarzo (VT); (2021) Vacunalia – Ora et Ozia, Vacone (RI); (2019) Le notti dentro, Galleria La Nica, Rome; Segno Contemporaneo, Dingyuan International Art Center, Beijing, China.

Giuseppe Sciortino (Palermo, 1988) graduated in Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. Since 2012 he has collaborated with artists Adriano Bimbi, Mauro Pratesi and Susanna Ragionieri on numerous projects and artist residencies in various locations in Tuscany.
Through careful contemplation of the surrounding reality, his painting draws inspiration from everyday “distractions,” aimed at capturing the authentic essence of the subjects.
His work has been shown in numerous solo exhibitions, including: (2024) Millimeters (sensations of minimal things), B10 Artroom, Milan; (2023) Lunatico | Lunare, Galleria Patricia Armocida, Milan; (2022) I luoghi possibili, Galleria Indigo, Perugia; (2019) Confini Soggettivi, Galleria Chiasso Perduto, Florence. He has also participated in group exhibitions, which include: (2020) Premio Mestre Pittura / Primo Premio Centro Culturale Candiani, Venezia Mestre; (2017) 4×1=1st, Museo Primo Conti, Fiesole (FI); Visite nelle case d’artista, La casa di Xavier Bueno, Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, Florence; (2013) Mille anni di spirito e natura, Monastery of Camaldoli, Poppi (AR).
For about ten years, he has also been engaged in private teaching of drawing and painting.

Jacopo Zambello (Rovigo, 1999) is currently attending the two-year painting course at the Venice Academy of Fine Arts.
In 2023 he won the Martini International Award at the San Fedele Prize and was included in the book 222 Artists to Invest in, published by Exibart. In the same year he was atelierist at Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice. In 2022 he won the 14th edition of the Nocivelli Prize in the Painting section.
Based on the perception of reality and Jean Baudrillard’s philosophy, his research aims to narrate the ambiguity of subjects through the inclusion of unusual elements within evocative scenarios. His work has been shown in numerous exhibitions, including: (2025) New Art Frontiers, Altro Mondo Creative Space, Makati City, Philippines; (2024) Campo Magnetico, Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa – Palazzetto Tito, Venice; La prima volta, Casa Testori, Novate Milanese (MI); Chi sono io – Indagini sul corpo, Galleria San Fedele Milan; Uscita Pistoia #1, Spazio A, Pistoia; (2023) Antares, Magazzini del Sale, Venice; (2022) Le Stanze del Contemporaneo, Palazzo Martinengo, Brescia.