Painting, sculpture, photography, site-specific installations and video art make up the different languages of the exhibition. The three exhibitions curated by Antonio Zimarino, Eva Comuzzi and Mariano Cipollini intertwine in a continuous dualism between difference and identity, closeness and distance in which each artist, Armenian and Italian, is called to discuss a theme. The visitor is thus stimulated to reflect, pushed to overcome two visions tout court and to open up to the encounter with the complexity of the culture of peoples in which it is possible to trace the common values of every civilization.

In the cisterns of Palazzo Acquaviva, "Apparitions, links" is the exhibition curated by Antonio Zimarino in which Ugo Giletta (1957, San Firmino di Revello) and Mikayel Ohanjanyan (1976, Yerevan/Armenia) although distant in culture, education and relationships, they discuss issues of difference and identity. Giletta uses painting, sculpture and video installations to capture the ephemeral identity on faces. The watercolor technique allows Giletta to carry out serial research on undefined faces whose identity is barely hinted at, as happens with the small wax heads. With the video installation of six close-ups, the result of the artist's work from 2004 to today, each face brings with it its own human condition and history. Unlike Giletta, Ohanjanyan prefers the durability of the material in which stone and wood are held together by stainless steel cables like indissoluble bonds of a life, from harmonious bonds to violent ones. In the "Diary" series, the artist engraves the names of the people who have shaped his identity in the grooves of the basalt stone over which the steel cables pass, extending the reflection to the possible lack of ties.

The young artist Apo Yaghmourian (1993, Amman/Jordan) is part of the project with three site-specific installations who, starting from the waste from the artisanal manufacturing of hats from Montappone, in the province of Fermo, creates objects or recalls images of peasant memories, donating to weave a new identity.

Finally, Giletta's video installation on incommunicability as a metaphor for human existence connects "Apparitions, ties" with the exhibition "Cannibals, Kings, and Gifts" curated by Eva Comuzzi in which the artists Spartak Khachanov dialogue ( 1984, Baku/Azerbaijan) and Tommaso Sandri (1992, Friuli). The exhibition is inspired by anthropologist Marvin Harris' book Cannibals and Kings. The origins of the cultures according to which cannibals and kings are the same, that is, the powerful, and places the two artists in relation with a strong propensity to reveal the political-economic conflicts that afflict the world. Khachanov's art is inextricably linked to his personal story as a political refugee and artist in exile who lived first in Armenia, then in Ukraine: memories, notes and drawings made with makeshift materials are part of his visual story of travels in refugee camps. Khachanov's works do not lack explicit and provocative denunciation of male domination, the same theme developed in a more playful and ironic key, as happens in the works of Sandri's "Fallocracy" series. "Without identity" is the installation made up of paper plates on which Khachanov ate as a refugee and on the bottom of which are the significant images of those dramatic moments. The exhibition ends with the gifts, that of Khachanov with "Cocoon", an interactive production that selects the images of the monuments of the world which are delivered to the visitor protected by the sand, those of Sandri which he brings as a gift to parents and children separated in a forced and put back in touch again, giving a voice to those who no longer have one.

"…and the corner forgot about you" curated by Mariano Cipollini is the last stage of Atri at Palazzo Cardinal Cicada conceived as a single exhibition on two distinct places: Atri and Pescara. Photographer Gianluca Chiodi (1966, Reggio Emilia/Milan) develops the concept of identity with irony through a series dedicated to cosmetic surgery, vulnerability and insecurities capable of generating new monsters. "Hot skin" is the series dedicated to desire that moves along the line of skin and the production of pheromones with which it enters into dialogue with the oil paintings of Liana Ghukasyan (Armenia) and her fascination for the flesh and the body. The Armenian artist's production of oil paintings is complemented by large-format works designed specifically for the outdoor spaces of the Cardinal Cicada palace. An exhibition incipit that remains waiting to continue and be completed starting from Sunday 10 July, at the Vittoria Colonna Museum in Pescara, with the works of Juan Del Prete (1897, Vasto – 1987, Buenos Aires) in dialogue with Giuseppina Piunti soprano, Matthias Ludwing baritone, Sonya Orfalian writer.

Stills of peace and everyday life
9th Edition

Italy and Armenia: a search for the meaning of the contemporary
9 July – 4 September 2022 / Atri – Pescara

CISTERNS OF ACQUAVIVA PALACE –
CARDINAL CICADA PALACE ATRI, ROMAN THEATER – ATRI
9 July – 4 September
Hours: 10.00 – 12.00 / 16.30 – 19.30 / 21.00 – 23.00 / Closed on Monday morning

Apparitions, connections
Ugo Giletta, Mikayel Ohanjanyan
Artistic intervention by Apo Yaghmourian
edited by Antonio Zimarino

Cannibals, Kings and GiftsSpartak Khachanov, Tommaso Sandri
edited by Eva Comuzzi

…and the angel forgot about you.Gianluca Chiodi, Liana Ghukasyan, Juan Del Prete, Giuseppina Piunti, Matthias Ludwig, Sonya Orfalian
edited by Mariano Cipollini

VITTORIA COLONNA MODERN ART MUSEUM – PESCARA
10 July – 3 September 2022
Hours: 10.00 – 12.00 / 17.00 – 22.00 / Closed on Mondays

Full program on stillsofpeace.com