4.4.25 | 7-9PM

STUDIO RÖ presents ANABASIS, Matteo Melotto’s third solo exhibition.

The project unfolds through installations and performances exploring identity self-acceptance and the relationship between spirituality and technology. By deconstructing autobiographical symbols, the artist constructs an archetypal and timeless narrative—an act of psychomagic in which past and future intertwine, allowing traumatic states to surface, be reinterpreted, and ultimately transformed through art and technology.

THE CRESCENT MOON AS A SYMBOL

A central element of the exhibition is the crescent moon, a symbol of transformation deeply rooted in the artist’s personal experience. Its name and shape derive from the working-class neighborhood on the outskirts of Turin where the artist lives, in a housing facility for economically disadvantaged families repurposed from an elementary school. This intimate yet universal symbolism repeats obsessively throughout the works as a visual mantra—manifesting as a spatial trace in installations, a recurring motif in videos, and a bodily extension in performances. A constant presence that evolves and reactivates itself through the artist’s various expressive languages.

PROTODOM: THE ORIGIN OF TRAUMA

The exhibition opens with PROTODOM, a digital performance introducing the traumatic core that informs the entire project. The work stems from a biographical event: while carrying his backpack from the school-house to the headquarters of a renowned fashion brand in Milan, the artist realizes it is overrun with ants. His first instinct is to eliminate them, to erase all traces, only to later recognize them as an unavoidable link to his origins.

PROTODOM subverts this impulse for self-censorship: rather than hiding the past, it exposes it on the artist’s digital body, transforming shame into acceptance and trauma into a catalyst for change. Accompanying the projection are six salt-dough sculptures, a humble, childlike material often used in elementary schools. Created cyclically over a year within the school-house, these ephemeral urns absorbed the humidity of the space, naturally decaying over time. They capture and retain the energy of the environment and the artist’s time spent within it, later releasing it digitally in the form of thousands of black ants.

ANABASIS: THE RITUAL OF TRANSFORMATION

At the heart of the exhibition is ANABASIS, a durational two-hour meditation in which the audience is free to move and interact with the artist. The ritual is guided by projections of archival footage, evoking the artist’s inner journey.

In this performance, the crescent moon reaches its most monumental form: an 80-square-meter white tunic extending into a vast crescent shape, becoming both a bodily prosthesis and a ritual bridge between anatomy and artistic space. The fabric’s dimensions match exactly those of the artist’s school-house, making the weight of trauma and its persistent presence tangible.

During the ritual, the artist wears a baroque ceremonial mask crafted from precious materials. More than an ornament, it serves as a sacred crown—a veil that conceals the identity, allowing it to be transformed through performance.

ANEURA: THE JOURNEY HOME

The focal point and guiding element of the meditation is ANEURA, a two-hour video alternating between archival footage of the artist’s hometown and digital simulations of the same spaces, recreated through 3D scanning technology.

The work embodies the concept of anabasis—a journey inward, both physically and psychologically. The artist walks toward his home from different points in his town, crossing fields, streams, and roads, delving deeper into his origins. The camera, used as a performative tool, merges with the body, extending his gaze and tracing a path back to the core of his identity.

ANEURA functions as both a meditative guide and a portal between two spaces: STUDIO RÖ, representing newfound awareness, and Via Mezzaluna 34/B, symbolizing a past necessary for achieving elevation.

IAH: THE SONIC ANABASIS

Completing the exhibition is IAH, a sound installation compiling over a year of ambient recordings from the school-house. Voices of children, parents, teachers, and caretakers, the sounds of bells, gates, playgrounds, the neighborhood, and the surrounding nature are deconstructed and fused with recordings of the artist’s body—captured with pressure microphones aligned with the seven chakras, then digitized and distorted.

The result is a sonic anabasis, where the real and the ethereal intertwine, dissolving traumatic states in a search for ecstasy and transcendence.

For the occasion, exclusive pieces by Coseincorso will be displayed, along with two lamps by Mike Seymour, specially created for this exhibition and never before revealed. During the performance, Matteo will wear a mask designed by Muriel Nisse, adding an extra layer of intrigue and artistic expression to the experience. This collaboration brings together a fusion of craftsmanship, light, and performance that promises to captivate the audience in a truly unique and unforgettable way.

CREDITS & COLLABORATIONS

Text: Matteo Melotto
Sound Design: Yarin Cardillo
Mask: Muriel Nisse
3D Graphics: Liang Keren

Photos : Kage Magazine