EX OSPEDALE MILITARE - Pt 3 The Second Exhibition

A New Chapter for Contemporary Art in Naples

On February 15, 2025, La Santissima Community Hub reopened its doors to contemporary art with L'istinto ha preservato la mia specie, an exhibition curated by Martina Campese, Letizia Mari, and Alberto Navilli. Promoted by Attiva Cultural Projects, the show featured Luca Petti in dialogue with the Fabio Frasca Collection, alongside works by Aria Dean, Bri Williams, Gaëlle Choisne, Grant Mooney, Irene Fenara, and Isadora Neves Marques.

The exhibition, created in collaboration with the Museum of Natural History of Verona and the Guastini Artistic Foundry of Vicenza, explored themes of symbiosis and interspecies relationships.

The Symbiotic Vision of Luca Petti

Seven sculptures from Petti's Endosimbionti series, blending rock, aluminum, bronze, iron, ceramic, and brass with organic materials such as bull horns, shark teeth, lichen, coral, and skulls, were the centerpiece of the exhibition. His work examined hybrid life forms and evolutionary mutations, drawing inspiration from endosymbiosis, where one species lives within another for mutual benefit.

"With the title 'Endosimbionti,' I referred to plant species integrating elements from the animal kingdom, where instinctive and predatory characteristics coexist within a single body," Petti explained.

A Collection in Transformation: The Fabio Frasca Collection

The Fabio Frasca Collection was exhibited publicly for the first time, enriched by new acquisitions. The collection's works reflected mutation and hybridity, resonating with Petti's sculptures. Highlights included:

• Aria Dean (Los Angeles, USA) – LUPO (2023), an iron sculpture exploring transformation.
• Bri Williams (Long Beach, USA) – Untitled (2021), a piece that "crystallized" a bird in suspended time.
• Irene Fenara (Bologna, Italy) – Struggle for Life (2016), a video loop on survival dynamics.
• Gaëlle Choisne (Cherbourg, France) – A mixed-media work between sculpture and photography.
• Grant Mooney (Seattle, USA) – A metal-based abstract sculpture with site-specific elements.
• Isadora Neves Marques (Lisbon, Portugal) – An environmental installation in white latex and digital print.

"My collaboration with Petti was rooted in deep artistic and professional admiration," said collector Fabio Frasca. "Both his practice and my collection explored transformation and interspecies relationships."

A Space for Artistic and Urban Regeneration

The exhibition took place on the second floor of La Santissima – Community Hub, a historic site repurposed for cultural initiatives through a collaboration between Urban Value by Ninetynine, Coop4Art, Agenzia del Demanio, the Municipality of Naples, and the Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio.

From February 16 to March 13, 2025, the exhibition presented a fascinating dialogue between Petti's sculptural hybrids and international contemporary art, rethinking the boundaries between species and materials.

Pics: courtesy Art Days - Napoli Campania

Mate Ternovics