MACTE presents the exhibition Nanda Vigo LIGHT PROJECT 2020, curated by Laura Cherubini and realized in collaboration with the Archivio Nanda Vigo, with a large light installation designed by the artist for the space of the museum.

The exhibition celebrates one of the most important Italian artists of her generation by tracing some highlights of Nanda Vigo research from the 1970s up to today. She is a pioneer of the experimentation in art, architecture and design, becoming part of the process of study and appreciation of the permanent collection and of the history of the Premio Termoli, activated by MACTE since its opening.

Nanda Vigo won the Premio Termoli in 1976 with the work Sintagma, made of glass, mirror and neon; its title derives from the Greek σύνταγμα, literally “composition, order”, and it refers to the term coined by Ferdinand de Saussure to define “the combination of two or more linearly ordered linguistic elements”. After 44 years this work of s monolithic indivisibility of significance as returns as a key to interpreting the whole exhibition. On the one hand, the works on show are placed according to a unitary exhibition design and mindful of the museum architecture, that is the distinctive feature of Vigo exhibitions, and on the other hand, they show the relation between two groups of works also connected by the linguistic point of view, whose common denominator is the light.

The first group of works consists of those ones defined Trigger of the space, including Sintagma (1976), realized by the artist from the 1970s til her passing, with an incessant research of “new space” and “new time”. It’s about real light sculptures and specular reflections composed of two distinct but inseparable elements: springboards to new worlds, gateways to the immense and unknown universe, but totally interconnected that Nanda Vigo researched in all her artistic production.

The second group includes, among the others, the work Light Progressions, Trilogy: Tribute to Gio Ponti, Lucio Fontana and Piero Manzoni (1993). It is made of glass and neon and it is a tribute to two artists and an architect, two work and life companions: three men capable of creating a unique syntagma in the life of Nanda Vigo.

Nanda Vigo LIGHT PROJECT 2020 combines the works into a unitary tale: the dark space of the circular room of MACTE, illuminated exclusively by the light of the works, immerses the visitor in a journey through the artist’s universe, made up of life and research, experience and aspirations for knowledge.