Sliding

Works from the Artistic Heritage of the Unipol GroupLarry Rivers | Beverly Pepper | Quayola | Stefano Ronci | fuse*

SLIDING is an exhibition project conceived by CUBO, the corporate museum of the Unipol Group, offering a reflection on interdisciplinarity and the continual evolution of artistic languages. The exhibition begins with a corpus of five works belonging to the Group’s Artistic Heritage, created by Beverly Pepper, Quayola, Larry Rivers, Stefano Ronci and fuse*, selected for their radical capacity for innovation and formal experimentation.

In line with the dynamic nature of the project, which envisages a constant rotation of artworks, the first “sliding” involves the sculpture Germoglio by Gigi Guadagnucci (1985–1991), replacing Virgo, rectangle twist (1967) by Beverly Pepper. Although distant in materials and expressive languages, the two sculptures share the desire to go beyond form, opening the viewer to new perceptual experiences: Pepper’s public and inclusive dimension on the one hand, and Guadagnucci’s intimate and meditative essentiality on the other.

This substitution is therefore not a simple exhibition change, but a shift in meaning that fully embodies the spirit of SLIDING: an exhibition in constant transformation, capable of creating ever-new connections between eras, materials, and artistic visions. Its aim is not only to highlight the coexistence of different techniques and styles, but also to make visible the crossing of expressive domains which, intertwining, generate new contaminations and new ways of perceiving reality.

The works on display, although distant in poetics, format, and historical period, find expressive affinities that justify their dialogue. From steel sculpture to marble carving, from neon installations to 3D scanning, from wood collage to multimedia installation, each piece represents an autonomous yet interconnected element within a broader narrative that spans different expressive codes and artistic forms.

The title of the exhibition is inspired by a section of the 1993 Venice Biennale, in which both Larry Rivers and Beverly Pepper participated. It invites visitors to explore the fluidity between natural and artificial, art and environment, real and virtual. Each work steps beyond the boundaries of its own discipline, generating new meanings and prompting the viewer to reflect on the complexity of contemporary art and the world surrounding it. Through this continuous movement between past, present, and future, SLIDING fully embodies the spirit with which the Unipol Group’s Artistic Heritage has been built: a living museum in ongoing dialogue with time and reality.

Works currently on display

• Features of Italy (1961), by Larry Rivers: a geographical representation of national identity reinterpreted with irony.
• Germoglio (1985-1991), by Gigi Guadagnucci: a marble sculpture that renews tradition through an essential and contemplative language, in dialogue with nature and space.
• PP_T011.A12 – 3D Scans Series (2016), by Quayola: a shift between the physical and the digital, in which traditional artistic forms are reinterpreted through technology.
• DiecialCUBO (2022), by Stefano Ronci: a work that integrates and blends languages, materials, and contemporary forms, exploring the relationship between space, artwork, and viewer.
• Artificial Botany – Unseen Flora (2023), by fuse*: surreal illustrations representing an intersection between the natural and the digital, the real and the artificial, truth and post-truth.

Previously exhibited works

• Virgo rectangle twist (1967), by Beverly Pepper: the static nature of sculpture becomes a dynamic twist, where the strength of the material interacts with the lightness of movement.