Lorenza Longhi: Villa Delizia

Opening: September 18, 2026

September 19, 2026 - January 10, 2027

The Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci presents Lorenza Longhi. Villa Delizia, the first solo exhibition by Lorenza Longhi (Lecco, 1991) at an Italian institution. Longhi’s work explores the construction of desire and the circulation of objects in contemporary European and American society. The exhibition continues the Centro Pecci’s focus on Italian art through exhibitions dedicated to artists who are prominent on both the international and national scenes.

Lorenza Longhi, Prudenza e demenza domestica, 2026, detail Courtesy of the artist; Fanta-MLN, Milan, and Galerie Oskar Weiss, Zurich. Photo credit: Agnese Bedini, DSL Studio.

The artist observes everyday life and, through consumer goods—designer furnishings, textiles and trimmings—reveals the mechanisms through which objects are displayed and consumed.

Her works often play with ornament, kitsch and glamour, staging the codes of collective taste in order to expose the forms of desire while simultaneously rendering them ambiguous and opening up a space for critical awareness.

In her practice, Longhi draws on do-it-yourself methods: she juxtaposes found materials or uses screen printing without a fixed matrix, applying stencils and salvaged fragments directly onto the printing surface. The artist gives materials a new life, incorporating errors, accidents and unexpected variations into her visual language. Failure thus becomes a way of distancing herself from the rhetoric of efficiency.

Installed in the Nio Wing with the support of Cellerese, Villa Delizia transforms the exhibition space by intervening in several architectural elements. Longhi works on the circular ceiling windows, dresses the historic sofas of the Centro Pecci and references display solutions conceived by Formafantasma for the institution’s permanent collection. Trimmings, seating, cushions, a portal and window decals create an enveloping environment that reshapes the architecture to accommodate the works, bringing exhibition strategies—and their role in influencing and directing the viewer’s gaze—to the foreground.

Lorenza Longhi, Senza Titolo (Ai divani! 4), 2026 Courtesy of the artist; Fanta-MLN, Milan, and Galerie Oskar Weiss, Zurich. Photo credit: Agnese Bedini, DSL Studio.

In a series of large-scale canvases, all produced especially for the exhibition, the artist has selected and combined fabrics sourced from manufacturers and companies in the Prato area, including Cangioli 1859 and Tessilfibre. She then intervened on them with screen printing and flocking, thanks to a collaboration with Floccatura Balmar. By removing the materials from their original function, the artist creates works of great formal refinement that make visible the economic, symbolic and cultural dynamics underlying contemporary production. In this way, recontextualisation becomes a critical tool capable of revealing what normally remains unseen.

The exhibition is accompanied by a volume published by Mousse Publishing. In the book, fashion historian and curator Marta Franceschini, curator Alice Motard, art historian Giorgio Motisi and curator Michele Bertolino offer original reflections on Longhi’s work, enriching its interpretation. Entitled Opera d’arte nella Villa Delizia, the publication was conceived by the artist as a catalogue of the works on display.

Information

Lorenza Longhi

September 19, 2026

Centro Pecci