PASCALI MEMORIA: Notes through Images

Opening 23 july at 7.00 pm

From 23 july to 25 october

Particolare di Barca, Salvagente, 1965  Silver gelatin print on paper  Collection of the Pino Pascali Foundation

The exhibition Pascali Memoria. Notes through Images opens on 23 July at 7:00 p.m. at the Teatro Kursaal Santalucia in Bari and will remain on view until 25 October.

Promoted by the Fondazione Pino Pascali and the Department of Tourism, Cultural Economy and Territorial Development of the Puglia Region, the exhibition is curated by the Fondazione Pino Pascali in Polignano a Mare. It continues the museum’s permanent exhibition dedicated to the artist, expanding its narrative through a valuable selection of documents, notes, previously unpublished correspondence and photographs taken by Pino Pascali in 1965, the year in which he first used photography to explore the urban and coastal landscapes of Naples, Ischia and Capri.

The exhibition also includes memorabilia, archival materials and a selection of works with an educational purpose, designed to guide visitors in understanding Pascali’s artistic research and the creative processes that characterised his production. These materials offer opportunities for further exploration for both scholars and visitors less familiar with his work.

Pascali as Pulcinella for the Cirio Carosello commercial, 1965  Silver gelatin print on paper  Collection of the Pino Pascali Foundation

By 1965, the artistic and professional partnership between Pino Pascali and Sandro Lodolo—founder of Massimo Saraceni Cinematografica and later of Lodolofilm—had already lasted for about seven years. Known among his colleagues for constantly carrying a Linhof large-format camera around his neck, Pascali was commissioned to produce a series of television commercials for the renowned food company Cirio.

Unlike his previous projects, which had been created entirely in the studio, Pascali chose to radically change his working method. Setting drawing aside, he travelled to Naples to gather first-hand visual material. The outcome went far beyond the requirements of the advertising commission, becoming a genuine visual notebook as well as an anthropological and formal investigation of extraordinary depth.

The photographs on display reveal Pascali’s keen eye and his ability to capture the essence of Neapolitan culture with remarkable poetic and emotional intensity. The exhibition unfolds through a series of thematic sections that reflect the key concerns of his artistic research.

Mare, 1965 Silver gelatin print on paper  Collection of the Pino Pascali Foundation

Water, the Harbour and the Sea. Plastic and fluid images of the Gulf anticipate, in both form and composition, later works such as 9 Square Metres of Puddles (1967). The harbour quays and sailing ships foreshadow Pascali’s later sculptural production, evoking works such as Contropelo (Against the Grain, 1968).

Geometries and Modules. Stacks of bricks, wooden crates and Rationalist architecture reveal Pascali’s enduring interest in the modular organisation of reality and the expressive potential of elementary forms.

Fictitious Sculptures. Close-up studies of animals—from the celebrated swan at Villa Borghese to the Four Lions in Piazza dei Martiri in Naples—reflect the artist’s continuous search for a synthesis between nature, representation and sculptural construction.

Childhood Games and Theatre. Naples' alleyways, animated by children's games, intertwine with the imagery of traditional masks—Pulcinella and the Pazzariello—as well as photographs of the puppet theatre at Villa Borghese, conceived as a genuine visual storyboard.

Signs, Letters and Numbers. Street signs, shop signs and the identifying marks of ships portray a city not yet fully metropolitan, shaped by the cultural exchanges between Europe and America that characterised those years.

The exhibition offers visitors the opportunity to discover an innovative and visionary Pino Pascali, capable of transforming a commercial commission into a profound exploration of landscape, popular culture and the contemporary imagination. Through photographs, documents, memorabilia and educational materials, Pascali Memoria. Notes through Images opens a window onto the artist's creative laboratory, revealing the origins of a visual language that would leave an enduring mark on the history of Italian art in the second half of the twentieth century.

Informations:

Teatro Kursaal Santalucia - Bari

Largo Adua, 5, 70121 Bari BA

Curated by Fondazione Pino Pascali

PASCALI MEMORIA. Notes through Images

Opening: from 23 july at 7.00 pm, to 25 october

Opening Hours: thursday–sunday, 4:00 p.m.–9:00 p.m.

Closed 13–16 August 2026