Image: Dayton Art Institute
A new exhibition devoted to Pino Pascali will open on 23 July at Teatro Kursaal Santalucia in Bari and remain on view until 25 October. Titled 'Pascali Memoria. Appunti per immagini', the show is promoted by the Fondazione Pino Pascali and the Department of Tourism, Culture Economy and Territorial Development of the Puglia Region, and is curated by the Fondazione Pino Pascali in Polignano a Mare.
According to the exhibition announcement, the presentation extends the museum’s permanent project dedicated to the artist by broadening its narrative through documents, notes, unpublished correspondence and photographs made by Pascali in 1965. That year marked the first time he used photography to investigate the urban and port landscapes between Naples, Ischia and Capri. The show also includes archival keepsakes, historical materials and a selection of works intended for teaching purposes.
The exhibition focuses on Pascali’s photographic eye and the way it intersected with his wider artistic practice. The newsletter describes the 1965 material as the result of an assignment for television commercials for the jam company Cirio, but says Pascali chose to leave the studio, set drawing aside temporarily and gather source material on location in Naples. The resulting images are presented not simply as commissioned material but as a visual notebook and a concentrated record of observation.
The curatorial structure groups the photographs around recurring themes in Pascali’s research. These include 'Acqua, il porto e il mare', in which images of the Gulf anticipate later works such as '9 mq di pozzanghere' (1967) and evoke 'Contropelo' (1968); 'Geometrie e moduli', with stacks of bricks, crates and rationalist architecture; and 'Finte sculture', where close studies of animals, including the swan in Villa Borghese and the Four Lions in Piazza dei Martiri in Naples, explore the relationship between nature, representation and sculptural construction.
Other sections address children's games and theatre, linking Naples alleyways, Pulcinella, the Pazzariello and street-theatre images from Villa Borghese into what the announcement calls a visual storyboard. A final section, 'Segni, lettere e numeri', brings together plaques, commercial signs and ship markings to evoke a city that was still not fully metropolitan and was shaped by cultural exchanges between Europe and America.
The exhibition is open with free admission at Largo Adua 5 in Bari. Visiting hours are Thursday to Sunday from 4 pm to 9 pm, and the venue will be closed from 13 to 16 August 2026. The Fondazione Pino Pascali lists information and contact details for visitors through its channels, while the show runs until 25 October at Teatro Kursaal Santalucia.
