Fondazione Pino Pascali celebrates its 90th anniversary with two exhibitions and awards the 2025 Prize to Roberto Cuoghi

On 19 October, Pino Pascali would have turned ninety. Fifty-six years after his death, the Fondazione Pino Pascali celebrates the artist with an intense weekend of events in his hometown, Polignano a Mare.

Roberto Cuoghi, A(XLVIIPs)t, 2021 Photo: Sarah Muehlbauer

Two key dates mark the occasion: on 18 October, the inauguration of the Premio Pino Pascali, awarded this year to Roberto Cuoghi; and on 19 October, the opening of the exhibition “Pino Pascali. Dal 1956 ad oggi”, a wide-ranging project dedicated to the life, work, and enduring legacy of one of the most vital figures of twentieth-century Italian art.

The Pino Pascali Prize to Roberto Cuoghi

Established in 1969 by Palma Bucarelli together with Pascali’s parents, the Pino Pascali Prize is among the longest-running and most significant awards in the Italian contemporary art scene. Over the decades, it has honoured artists such as Jannis Kounellis, Vettor Pisani, Maurizio Mochetti, Vincenzo Agnetti, Jan Fabre, Nathalie Djurberg, Ibrahim Mahama, and, in recent years, Francesco Arena and Nico Vascellari.

For its 27th edition, the Foundation selected Roberto Cuoghi, recognising “his ability to merge the individual and the socio-anthropological dimensions in a dialogue of metamorphosis and experimentation that resonates with Pascali’s own poetics.”

Born in Modena in 1973, Cuoghi is one of the most distinctive figures on the international art scene. His work spans painting, sculpture, sound, and installation, exploring transformation and imitation as creative processes. After representing Italy in the 57th Venice Biennale (curated by Cecilia Alemani) with the work Imitation of Christ, Cuoghi presented exhibitions at the Fridericianum in Kassel and with the retrospective Perla Pollina 1996–2016, held between the Centre d’Art Contemporain in Geneva and the Museo Madre in Naples.

Pino Pascali, Algida, 1959-62, Collezione privata, Bari  

Pino Pascali. Dal 1956 ad oggi

The following day, on 19 October at 7 p.m., the Foundation inaugurates Pino Pascali. From 1956 to Today, an exhibition that retraces the artist’s creative trajectory — from his early years in Rome to his period of full artistic maturity.

Set within the museum’s basement galleries, the exhibition features works, documents, stage designs, photographs, and archival materials, offering insight into Pascali’s imagination and personality. The installation also recreates the atmosphere of his studio, with personal objects and tools revealing the close connection between life and artistic practice.

Visitors are invited to revisit Pascali’s early collective exhibitions, his television collaborations, preparatory studies, and the installations that established him as a key figure in Italy’s Arte Povera and conceptual movements.

Through these two initiatives — the Pino Pascali Prize awarded to Cuoghi and the retrospective dedicated to its namesake — the Fondazione Pino Pascali reaffirms its role as a leading institution for contemporary art in Puglia, transforming the artist’s 90th anniversary into an opportunity to reflect on the past, present, and future of Italian art.

Fondazione Pino Pascali Bari

Date XXVII Roberto Cuoghi

18 Ottobre 2025 – 3 maggio 2026

PINO PASCALI. Dal 1956 ad oggi

19 ottobre 2025 – 31 Dicembre 2025

Tate Modern presents the first UK exhibition dedicated to the development of modern art in Nigeria.

The exhibition brings together more than 250 works by over 50 artists, including Ben Enwonwu and El Anatsui, from collections across Africa, Europe, and the United States.

Uzo Egonu, Women in Grief 1968, © The estate of Uzo Egonu, Tate

Spanning the period from colonial rule to independence and beyond, Nigerian Modernism celebrates an international network of artists who merged African and European traditions, creating a unique artistic legacy.

In the 1940s, under British-controlled education, many Nigerian artists trained in the United Kingdom, balancing Western influences with Indigenous identities. Aina Onabolu pioneered modern portraiture, Akinola Lasekan depicted Yoruba myths, while Ben Enwonwu and Ladi Kwali combined European training with local traditions, developing new visions of African culture.

Nigeria’s independence in 1960 inspired an artistic revival. The Zaria Arts Society — including Uche Okeke, Demas Nwoko, Yusuf Grillo and others — promoted the concept of Natural Synthesis, blending Indigenous forms with modern expression. Lagos became a vibrant cultural hub, with modernist architecture, public art and Highlife music, while in Ibadan the Mbari Club, founded by Ulli Beier, brought together artists and writers such as Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka, linked to the influential Pan-African journal Black Orpheus.

Nike Davies-Okundaye, Animal World 1968Kavita Chellaram. Image courtesy of kó, Lagos © Nike Davies Okundaye

During the same period, new movements emerged that rediscovered Yoruba spirituality. Austrian-born Susanne Wenger founded the New Sacred Art Movement and led the restoration of the Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove. In parallel, the Oshogbo Art School encouraged experimentation among artists like Nike Davies-Okundaye and Twins Seven Seven, who explored local identity and mythology through their work.

The Nigerian Civil War in 1967 disrupted the post-independence optimism, leading many artists to reflect on national unity. The uli motifs of the Igbo tradition re-emerged, reinterpreted by Uche Okeke and members of the Nsukka Art School, including Obiora Udechukwu and Ndidi Dike, who transformed them into a modernist visual language and a symbol of resilience.

Bruce Onobrakpeya, The Last Supper 1981 © reserved. Tate

The exhibition concludes with Uzo Egonu, whose Stateless People series (1980) reflects on Nigerian diasporic identity and the dialogue between cultural belonging and artistic freedom.

Tate Modern Bankside London SE1 9TG

Date 8 ottobre 2025 – 10 maggio 2026

Lucca Art Fair opens the autumn season of art fairs

From September 26 to 28, 2025, in the historic spaces of the Real Collegio in Lucca, Lucca Art Fair returns with its ninth edition, taking place for the first time in an autumn setting. After several spring editions, the fair symbolically inaugurates the new exhibition season, becoming the first autumn event in Italy dedicated to contemporary art. This strategic choice marks a new phase and aims to strengthen the fair’s role within the national landscape, in constant dialogue with the city’s cultural institutions. Organized by T.O.E. in collaboration with Blob Art ETS and under the patronage of the Municipality of Lucca, the Chamber of Commerce Toscana Nord Ovest, and Confindustria Toscana Nord, the fair reaffirms itself as a dynamic platform for the promotion of art.

“The Deafening Silence Between Us” — courtesy of Leila Erdman-Tabukashvili

The exhibition layout has been redesigned to make the visit more engaging, with the Rooms connected in pairs to create a more organic and immersive path. “We wanted to rethink the structure of the exhibition route in order to meet the needs of an increasingly attentive and engaged audience” explains director Paolo Batoni. “The connection between the Rooms stems from the desire to overcome the compartmentalization of spaces, turning the visit into a fluid, immersive, and coherent experience, where each gallery can naturally dialogue with the others.”

Batoni also emphasizes how current challenges can be turned into opportunities: “It is a complex period, but such phases represent chances to explore new approaches, to take risks, and to encourage galleries to pursue unprecedented and engaging paths.” This year, in fact, the number of participating galleries is growing, with a focus on emerging and mid-career artists, without forgetting the connection to established names, thus offering a time span that ranges from early 20th-century masterpieces to the most contemporary research.

The Main Section, which brings together thirty-three galleries, offers a panorama that reflects the trends of the Italian market while also opening up to international perspectives. Among the prominent names is Vladan Radovanović, a pioneer of multimedia art, presented by the Prototip Gallery of Belgrade, while the Richard Vanderaa Gallery brings to Lucca works on paper by Günther Förg, Bill Beckley, Jaume Plensa, and Peter Schuyff. Special attention is devoted to painting, revitalized by a new generation of gallerists such as Mondoromulo Arte Contemporanea and Candy Snake Gallery. Also noteworthy are dialogues between different media, such as the proposal of A Pick Gallery, which intertwines photography and painting, and that of 800/900 Art Studio, which, through the works of Lorenzo Viani, explores the representation of the female figure from the nineteenth to the twentieth century.

Alongside the main section, there is space for Art Projects, dedicated to experimental projects and to solo and duo shows, and Independent, reserved for project spaces and collectives of artists and curators. This year, special emphasis is placed on the Editor section, entirely devoted to independent publishing and the artist’s book, enriched by a program of Talks that on September 27 and 28 will feature publishers and artists in public events also streamed online.

The Public Programme is enriched by the performance “Anacronista sarai tu”, created by Accademia Libera di Calci – Pino Donnaloia. “This performance is an invitation to move beyond the passive role of the spectator and become an active part of the artistic process” explains Batoni. “Drawing is not just representation, but a tool for connection, tension, and shared presence.”

With this edition, Lucca Art Fair renews its mission: to create genuine connections among artists, galleries, publishers, curators, collectors, and the public, transforming itself into an experience that places at its core the relationship between those who produce art and those who experience it. This edition also carries particular significance as it coincides with the introduction of the new 5% VAT rate on the sale of artworks, a long-awaited measure that could represent an opportunity to give new momentum and vitality to the contemporary art market.

Espositori

Main Section

800/900 Artstudio, Livorno, Lucca - Accademia Libera, Calci (PI) - A Pick Gallery, Torino -Antigallery, Mestre (VE) - Archivio Iginio Balderi, Milano - ArmandaGoriArte, Prato - Art Shop, Pistoia - Bernabò Home Gallery, Trezzo sull’Adda (MI) - Candy Snake Gallery, Milano - Fidanda, Livorno, Lucca - Franco Giannini Arte Contemporanea, Soiano sul Lago (BS) - Galería Álvaro Alcázar, Madrid (ES) - Galeria Richard Vanderaa, Girona (ES) - Galleria Cant’Art, Empoli (FI) - Galleria Entropia, Perugia - Galleria Granelli, Castiglioncello (LI) - Galleria Poliart Contemporary, Milano - Ginza Kawauso Gallery, Tokio (JP) - Giò Art, Lucca - Gio Arte, Mestre (VE) - Guastalla Centro Arte, Livorno - Ivan Capuccini, Perugia - LDX Artodrome Gallery, Berlino, Malta, Hong Kong - Moho Gallery, Tarcento (UD) - Mondoromulo arte contemporanea, Castelvenere (BN) - Olio su tavola, Lucca - Open One Art Gallery, Pietrasanta (LU) - Prototip, Belgrado (SRB) - Studio Pivuelle Arte, S. Giovanni Valdarno (AR) - T.O.E. Art Market, Livorno - Unique Contemporary, Torino - Veridieci, Corte Franca (BS) - VINCIARTE, Rubano (PD)

Art Projects

Regalarte Romarategui, Vitoria-Gasteiz (ES) - Studio Godot, Castellina Marittima (PI) -Ufofabrik Contemporary Art Gallery, Moena (TN)

Independent

AART'è Gene, Roma - Kıymet Dirican Studio, Smirne (TR) - Mariangela Fremura Studio, New York (USA) - Daniele Nannini Studio, Firenze

Editor

Andrea Benedetto, Milano/Basel - Collezione da Tiffany, Pesaro - Fare mente locale, Firenze - Ginevra Tarabusi, Pavia - Inside Art, Roma, Johan & Levi, Milano - Juliet, Muggia (TS) - Numero Cromatico, Roma Raw Messina, Roma - Spazioterra, Firenze - The Place, Bergamo - TYPEONE Magazine, UK

Info

support@luccaartfair.it

Where: 

Real Collegio, Piazza del Collegio, 13, Lucca

When: 

26 - 28 settembre 2025

Time schedule 

Friday      3.00 pm - 8.00 pm

Saturday        10.00 am - 8.00 pm

Sunday   10.00 am - 8.00 pm

Admission Tickets

Daily ticket Friday: €5.00

Daily ticket Saturday and Sunday: €10.00

Reduced daily ticket: €8.00

Easy reduced ticket: €5.00 (students with valid student ID)