Francesco Paterlini. Fragments

The Sirmione National Archaeological Museum, situated on the Lake Garda within the archaeological park of the Catullus’s Caves, is hosting a solo exhibition by the sculptor Francesco Paterlini. The exhibition presents ten works – sculptures in stone and terracotta, and installations – which prompt a profound reflection on the theme of the fragment, evoking archaeological and anthropological associations. The works on display, symbolically untitled, engage directly with the permanent collection, creating a single organic whole – a single large installation that blends seamlessly with the exhibition as a whole.

The works are not confined to an isolated space, but are interspersed amongst the museum’s exhibits and must be sought out within the exhibition layout in a sort of treasure hunt, analysing fragmentation as an inherent characteristic of any historical collection. Along the route, visitors encounter small shrines and stone reliefs featuring Roman architectural elements, intermingled with figures of cockroaches and reclining bodies, seals accompanied by inscribed tablets, and small hut-shaped sarcophagi. Terracotta fragments – damaged heads, hands and arms – convey an image of incompleteness and abandonment, mirroring the cultural decline of contemporary society, eroded by consumerism. Finally, an ogival tower made of earth or plaster, conceived as a tomb or cosmic vessel, is integrated into the structure of the central corridor, bringing together the ancient and the contemporary within a cyclical and archetypal time.