At the crossroads between digital technology and immersive itineraries, from 29 September Palazzo Cipolla will be hosting the technological and generative art of Quayola, one of the leading international representatives of media art

From 29 September #palazzocipolla in Rome will be hosting the first solo exhibition by #quayola in the Italian capital. 
Born in Rome in 1982, #quayola is among the world’s leading representatives of media art. He belongs to that rare breed of artists who, by devising a personal expressive code and a new artistic/communicative language, have redefined the history of art through their vision. 
This very first monographic exhibition in Rome presents a complete overview of the artist’s creations through an immersive itinerary exploring the main themes in his computational art. 
The historic building of #palazzocipolla is an ideal setting to display Quayola’s take on art history, which is marked by the constant interplay between Classical education and the everyday use of futuristic visual media. The works on display, executed between 2007 and 2021, offer an overview of the artist’s creative process, time shifts, anticipations of the future, and reconstructions of the past.
The exhibition project unfolds across three thematic areas: Classical iconography, unfinished sculptures, and the tradition of landscape painting.
By employing robotic systems, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and generative software, #quayola transforms computational technology into a new canvas: Renaissance and Baroque paintings are turned into complex digital compositions through computational methods, and sculptures inspired by Michelangelo’s technique of the unfinished are sculpted by robotic means. We then find representations of nature, the outcome of a generative art that highlights the fascinating – yet paradoxical – resemblance between the natural and the digital world.
Video projections, sculptures, and high-definition prints give visitors the opportunity to explore the remarkable artistic potential of these expressive media – far from the cliches about dehumanized technology – and to acquire essential instruments to interpret contemporary society.
Prof. Emmanuele F. M. Emanuele, the President of Fondazione Terzo Pilastro – Internazionale, the promoter of the exhibition, notes: “Quayola uses the algorithms that regulate the digital world not merely – or not simply – to create artworks, but rather to probe – through the endless opportunities that technology affords him – the research process which underlies the artwork itself, to explore the range of possible ways of giving a creative idea concrete expression. He breaks down and shatters things in order to reorganize and construct wholly new aesthetic canons. Significantly, within this highly innovative and original process, constant dialogue with the great masters of classic art  proves crucial for #quayola. This young artist draws inspiration for his creations from masterpieces by Raphael, Botticelli, Rubens and Bernini. He prefers preparatory sketches, because what is unfinished allows him – as he himself admits – to depart from the idea of representation in order to focus on the process itself. Quayola’s art, therefore, makes for an exhibition which, I trust, will help traditional purists approach the new modes of expression deriving from the latest technologies. These, far from being bare and “dehumanized” are put to the service of the creative act in all its forms, offering the artist and his viewers new tools to explore the ineffable mystery of the practice of art.”
Despite the change in expressive media, the extensive exhibition itinerary brings out the enduring character of the artistic research that began in the past and which continues in the present: this reinterpretation of the “classics” is compared to great masterpieces, which are reproduced on “educational boards”, both to make the exhibition more accessible and to guide visitors by helping them to explore and understand the “Quayola code”. 
An integral part of the exhibition, and the most striking expression of Quayola’s innovative and technological skills, is the presentation of his robotic sculptures: in this case, the dialogue with the great artists of the past, and particularly with Bernini, underlies the development of an unprecedented sculptural body, executed through the support of an AI robotic system. 
This computational world is frequently seen as being poles apart from the natural kingdom, but #quayola reinterprets it, showing that generative art may well be an ideal means to explore nature. His botanical series, such as Jardins d’été, highlight the fascinating, if paradoxical, resemblance between the natural and the digital world.
An “organic” process occurs both in natural and in algorithmic life; in both realms – the natural and the digital – a generative process is at work which obeys its own logic. Through an artificial nature so close to the natural world in its truth, #quayola has developed a new form of Impressionism. In our digital age, Quayola’s art helps us reflect on and understand the way we live. By developing a body of works that take on both immaterial forms (e.g. videos) and material ones (e.g. prints and sculptures), the artist sheds light on the paradox of immateriality, which is de facto a new form of materiality – the right language to express a view of the 21st-century world. 
The exhibition is promoted by Fondazione Terzo Pilastro – Internazionale, headed by Prof. Emmanuele F. M. Emanuele. It is produced by Poema with organizational support from Comediarting and Arthemisia, and is curated by #jeromeneutres and #valentinocatricala. It is perfectly in keeping with the kind of events that the exhibition venue of #palazzocipolla has now been hosting for over twenty years. From the very start, with remarkable sensitivity and far-sightedness, the Foundation – under the competent leadership of its President – has focused on exploring the most significant artistic tendencies and forms of expression. This exploration began with a necessary investigation of those ages that have shaped Italian identity (the Quattrocento and the Baroque); it then continued with research on distant cultures (imperial China, Japan, India, Soviet Russia, and the United States), before touching upon the most relevant examples of Italian and international contemporary art, by highlighting its innovative ideas and undisputed  protagonists (e.g. Rockwell, Hopper, and Banksy).
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Despite his young age, #quayola boasts an international career with exhibitions in prominent museums such as the V&A Museum in London, the Park Avenue Armory in New York, the Bozar in Brussels, the National Art Centre in Tokyo, the UCCA in Beijing, the HOW Art Museum in Shanghai, and the Palais de Tokyo in Paris. He has taken part in major Biennials, including that of São Paulo, and in several festivals, such as Sónar in Barcelona and the Sundance Film Festival of Park City. He has received a number of prestigious awards, such as the Golden Nica at the Ars Electronica Festival. #quayola has also worked on experimental projects with composers, orchestras, and musicians, including the London Contemporary Orchestra, the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Vanessa Wagner, Jamie XX, Mira Calix, Plaid and Tale Of Us.