The Sant'Anna church in Modica (Sicily) is hosting from 15 to 22 December 2023 the exhibition “Oggetti Liberi” by Giuseppe Arezzi, which brings together -for the first time- a body of works from the last five years.

On this occasion, it will be possible to visit the Sant'Anna church -subject to partial restoration- recently made accessible through the installation “Luce per un cantiere” created by the designer Angelo Sanzone, for the FAI (the National Trust for Italy) in October 2023.

This exhibition wants to create connections between the Church, Giuseppe Arezzi's objects and Angelo Sanzone's lighting intervention, emphasising the transversality of this particularly evocative ensemble, accessible to the visitor from a walkway at the centre of the nave.

Giuseppe Arezzi's creative vision -made up of contemporary archetypes- merges with the interior of the Church in an interesting exercise of ‘fusion of the arts’ and coexists with the sculptures of saints, the sacred furnishings, the decorative and architectural elements, in an interesting balance between spirituality and domesticity.

On display are projects related to the vernacular tradition, the results of an ongoing research into identity, rediscovering the signs and symbols of the Sicilian territory.

The carpet “Giro” with its partly empty circular form, narrates the iconography of the vernacular wheel, known as the first object of mobility, and overlays its rays on the white limestone and pitch stone inlays of the church’s pavement. The “Fiscella suspended object, which takes its name from the classic straw basket used in Sicily and the Mediterranean area to make ricotta cheese, is hanged at the entrance of the nave, and contains - like an offering - the “Carruba” souvenir-objects, a tribute to a rural and authentic South-Eastern Sicily. The “Manico” armchairs, with their simple lines and colours in dialogue with the tones of the Church, are aligned towards the precious altar. The “Tramoggia” chest is a contemporary reinterpretation of the original wooden bench, the “Binomio” multi-purpose furniture is reminiscent of an altar or a kneeler, and the “Solista” coat rack, placed in front of the Chapel dedicated to the wooden crucifix, evokes its absence.

A video by filmmaker Andrea Giannone, which narrates the story of the Church, introduces the exhibition and can be viewed in the entrance hall.