Curated by Daniele Pipitone
Under the patronage of the Municipality of Olbia.

Olbia, Archaeological Museum
October 21, 2023 – November 8, 2023
Inauguration Saturday, October 21, 2023 5 p.m.
Free admission.

Opening hours:
Tuesday to Sunday 8 a.m. – 1 p.m.; 4 p.m. – 7 p.m.
(closed Mondays)

Additional Information:
Web: perartevie.com
Social: @perartevie
Mail: info@perartevie.com

The Archaeological Museum will host the first solo exhibition in Olbia of Cenzo Cocca, a young exponent of fiber art. After an exhibition in Paris and participation in an international one in L’Aquila, the artist will present his works in an exhibition curated by Daniele Pipitone, organized by the Per Arte Vie Cultural Association with the patronage of the Municipality of Olbia and the support of some local businesses that believed in this project.

The exhibition will be opened on Saturday, Oct. 21 at 5 p.m. with free admission and will be open until Nov. 8, 2023 according to museum hours.

“Quanto è clemente il cuore” (How Clement is the Heart) is the title of the exhibition dedicated to Cenzo Cocca, the first solo show in the city of Olbia. The exhibition will welcome a selection of works, some of which have never been exhibited in Sardinia, by the artist whose work is characterized by the use of needle and thread, cloth and cardboard, and embroidery is the mode with which he expresses himself.

The title of the exhibition takes its name from one of the texts stitched by the artist, who likes to transfer thoughts and reflections on old cloths, deepening the theme of man’s interiority and giving the possibility of a new look at oneself and reality.

Cocca’s artistic path stems from her training in tailoring, and it was in this field that the idea of combining embroidery with art matured.

As stated in the presentation of the exhibition, “his attention is directed to the person in all his intimate and complex interiority, to his heart made of spiritual and psychological dimensions: questions, desires, search for truth, feelings. […] Investigating man means for Cenzo to give concreteness to inner thoughts, to study them, to highlight them, to depict them. The purpose of the artistic work is thus a way to highlight the palpitation of the heart “how much it feels, how much it moves and how much it guides us.”
The exhibition at the Archaeological Museum is an invitation to empathize with the stitching and embroidered words on the cloths.  Distinctive feature of Cocca’s work is, in fact, the stitched word. Short sentences and poems transferred onto a cloth are a way to make one’s thoughts more evident and invite the viewer to reflection. It is easy to find a correspondence between personal experiences and feelings experienced with the stitched poems.

In the exhibition there will be stitched cloths from which emerges a desire to offer a positive view, that of healing one’s wounds and coping with adverse circumstances.

Looking at one’s scars without censoring them allows one to see them as integral parts of one’s life, and to overcome pain, mistakes and failures. The invitation is an invitation to look at one’s mistakes and wounds with a new gaze, a gaze that leaves room for a more optimistic view of life, where everything can be rearranged, rescued, sewn up.

Also on display at the Archaeological Museum are stitched portraits, among the artist’s earliest works, and masks created in the past year of work based on readings and experimentation, on the theme of the human mind and the meaning of the sacred. In the masks Cocca also analyzes psychological aspects and how the mind and can be shaped by environment and upbringing.

Among the works on display at the Archaeological Museum is “Un lungo e delicato ricordo da non dimenticare” (A Long and Delicate Memory Not to Be Forgotten), which represents the beginning of the artist’s journey on the theme of stitching and wounds to be healed. It is a large blue suture made on a large fabric donated to Cocca by a woman from Monteleone Roccadoria.

Also characterizing the exhibition will be “Friscura” made in 2022 and never exhibited in Sardinia. Composed of two chairs covered with fragments of cloths with writing on them and a rug, the work stems from the idea of recalling the ancient custom in the island’s villages of “friscurare,” that is, to sit during summer evenings to chat while taking cool air outdoors. With this work, the artist invites reflection on the way of socializing and dialogue today.

The exhibition is organized by the Association “Per Arte Vie” established in 2023 by the desire to bring the city of Olbia closer to the knowledge of contemporary art, with special attention to the approaches of Sardinian artists.

Quanto è clemente il cuore is organized under the patronage of the City of Olbia and thanks to the collaboration with local companies and associations that have believed in the Per Arte Vie project and this exhibition: Kinarmonia, Macchia Mediterranea, Pileri Gioielleria dal 1968, Tamponi FKT Gallura S.r.l., Tenute Faladas. 

Cenzo Cocca

Andrea Cocca, aka Cenzo, was born in 1994 and is originally from Ghilarza, in the province of Oristano. He currently lives and works in Olmedo. In 2015 he began studying tailoring in Nuoro and it was during these years that he began to take an interest in art by combining it with tailoring. Thus he made his first sewn portraits and his first works on paper and canvas.

Solo exhibitions include “Signs of Life,” curated by Chiara Manca, MANCASPAZIO, Nuoro; “Affinità Abitative,” curated by Stefano Resmini, Sa Mandra Contemporary Art Space in Alghero; “ECCETERA CENZO,” curated by Mario Saragato at the MEOC Museum in Aggius. His work has been included in group exhibitions in museum spaces such as Pinacoteca Nazionale Sassari, Museo M.A.S.E in Alghero, MURATS Museo Unico Regionale dell’Arte Tessile Sarda in Samugheo. In 2021 he was selected among the artists of the 8th Crazy Art Commune International New Contemporary Art Exhibition.

His installation ‘Friscura’ was on display at the Museum of Embroidery and Textile in Valtopina as part of the international exhibition “Notes on This Time,” and also exhibited at the CasermArcheologica space in Sansepolcro in the province of Arezzo.

Among the latest exhibitions: the solo show “Colmando il vuoto aprendo gli occhi” at SCD Textile & Art Studio in Perugia and participation in the collective exhibition Fiber Storming during Bergamo Arte Fiera 2023.

From July 27 to August 5, 2023, the solo exhibition “MASCHERZI?” was held in Paris at the Floréal Belleville Gallery and the Jacques Lévy Gallery.

From August 5 to September 8, 2023, he participated in the exhibition LUCO, a group show spread across several venues in L’Aquila, dedicated to the meaning of the sacred in our time.

Per Arte Vie

The Cultural Association “Per Arte Vie” was born in 2023 from the desire to enhance contemporary art with particular interest in young and emerging artists and art produced in Sardinia.

The Association arises from the intuition sparked during the travels of Daniele Pipitone, author of the blog “Un sardo in giro,” through various artist studios throughout the island and with the desire to share such encounters and the outcomes of their research paths.

The idea is to curate the organization of contemporary art exhibition and communication projects but also to spread interest in art among people as much as possible.

Per Arte Vie believes in art as an instrument of social renewal capable of spreading values of equality, brotherhood, and social justice, but also capable of creating relationships, enhancing traditions, and initiating creative processes in communities.