CHIARA PASSA.The Abstract Films: Sculpting Narratives in Space
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Opening 24 june, h 6.30PM
25 june- 2 august 2026
Curated by Paola Lagonigro and Laura Leuzzi
From June 25 to August 2, 2026, the monumental spaces of Teatro 2 at the Mattatoio will host, for the first time in Rome, The Abstract Films: Sculpting Narratives in Space (2023–2025), a series of immersive and interactive works by Chiara Passa, consisting of four films — Yellow Film, Black & White Film, Red Film, and Blue Film.
The exhibition is promoted by the Assessorato alla Cultura di Roma Capitale, Azienda Speciale Palaexpo and Fondazione Mattatoio – Città delle Arti, and is organized by Azienda Speciale Palaexpo in collaboration with Latitudo.
Exploring the boundary between the real and the virtual, the quadrilogy invites viewers to actively participate. A minimalist aesthetic, composed of solid geometries and electronic music, is combined with a mutable and non-linear structure. Each film features a different mode of interaction, ranging from the manipulation of physical objects to choices generated by AI. In every case, the narrative is disrupted and reshaped, becoming different each time and leading visitors through an experience that merges film, sculpture, and a playful approach.
Conceived as fluid, digital, and multisensory narrative environments, The Abstract Films establish a direct dialogue with the rough and layered physicality of Rome’s former industrial complex. Timeworn surfaces, metal structures, and the irregular volumes of the space become integral parts of the work, generating a continuous tension between material memory and algorithmic imagination.
The four LED walls, placed on the floor and equipped with a directional audio system, are inserted into the space as digital membranes that reinterpret its geometries: they follow, contradict, reinvent, or amplify the original architectural lines, transforming the environment into a hybrid organism. In this process, the digital architectures revisit the Mattatoio not as a mere support structure, but as an active matrix: they absorb its productive history and reactivate its structural tensions, projecting new perceptual possibilities.
The encounter between industrial archaeology and digital abstraction generates a field of forces in which matter, light, and movement continuously rewrite one another. Through AI-generated questions that appear in the form of buttons and interactive objects, visitors are invited to activate a fluid and non-linear narrative, where the memory of the site intertwines with the abstract projection of new possible spaces.
The space of the Mattatoio becomes a computational membrane traversed by algorithmic images, sound interactions, and abstract architectures in constant transformation.
Each of the four films presents a different mode of interaction with the audience:
Yellow Film: a narrative remix activated through thirty interactive envelopes, set to the rhythm of a suspenseful electronic soundtrack.
Black & White Film: narrative manipulation through thirty sculptural objects and sequences accompanied by a minimalist techno soundscape.
Blue Film: AI-generated prompts and remixed sound effects guide a dynamic and ever-changing experience.
Red Film: AI prompts, together with sonic and chromatic interactions, continuously redirect the narrative flow.
Taken as a whole, the works form an immersive and participatory ecosystem in which architecture expands, reflects itself, and dissolves into digital abstractions. The audience becomes part of a new emotional cartography, where urban memory, industrial archaeology, and algorithmic imagination coexist within the same space.
The exhibition will be accompanied by an illustrated catalogue, to be presented in September, edited by Lagonigro and Leuzzi, with texts by the curators, the artist, and Darko Fritz, artist, curator, and pioneer of Croatian digital art.
As part of the exhibition, two guided tours led by the curators will be organized: on July 14 at 6:00 p.m. with Paola Lagonigro, and on July 22 at 6:00 p.m. with Laura Leuzzi. Both events will offer an opportunity to explore the exhibition and the artist’s research in greater depth.
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