Saverio Ungheri. 100 anni di futuro

Organised by Assessorato alla Cultura di Roma Capitale, Azienda Speciale Palaexpo and Fondazione Mattatoio di Roma – Città delle Arti, the free exhibition in Pavilion 9b of the Mattatoio di Roma presents to the public the work of one of the key figures of Astralism, and later of kinetic art and Arte bionika.

Born in the province of Reggio Calabria, Saverio Ungheri settled in Rome at the end of 1947. His friendship with the Futurist master Sante Monachesi and the influences drawn from scenes far from the capital (Spatialism in Milan) and from certain figures on the Roman art scene (Giulio Turcato, Alberto Burri, Ettore Colla…) fostered the experimental approach that characterises his entire artistic career. In the 1960s, the artist (one of the signatories of the Astralism manifesto, the artistic movement founded in the wake of collective enthusiasm for the space race) embarked on a personal line of research. Moving away from the two-dimensionality of the painting, he would arrive at an ironic and vaguely unsettling three-dimensional sculptural form, constructed by assembling everyday objects and moulded foam rubber parts to imitate animals, fantastical creatures and anatomical organs, often placed inside shells, ciboria or helmets powered by electric motors.

The exhibition, organised into chronological sections, documents the various phases of Saverio Ungheri’s artistic development, from his early days to “Arte bionika”. It also features a number of commissioned works of sacred art and examples of his work as a cultural promoter in his studios in Via Nomentana and, later, in Salita del Grillo (a studio known as the “Polmone Pulsante”).