Found and Discovered
Posted on April 14 2025
Ph by Mario del Barrio Rojo
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FOUND AND DISCOVERED │ 28 March - 30 April, 2025 Millepiani, Rome
Event curated by LoosenArt
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Text by Silvia Colombo, Antonio Muratore
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For more than a century, photography has been used as a documentary medium to detect the signs of human passage in our surroundings. The use of photographic, and subsequently even video, media allows the focus of attention to be placed on the single object or trace "discovered", from which information about human behavior can be captured. One of the major changes that occurred during the early years of the twentieth century in the field of aesthetic phenomenology is, as a matter of fact, determined by the introduction of these new means of detection of reality, means that consent us to adopt a new way of grasping from reality the elements that we believe useful in the creation of a discourse.
Grasping and analyzing also means to extrapolate from a context the objects that interest us, found objects that become compositional elements in a new expression of the self.
Not only objects, but also places can reveal something that we consider significant for history, for science, for our collective memory and our individual memory.
Grasping and analyzing also means to extrapolate from a context the objects that interest us, found objects that become compositional elements in a new expression of the self.
Not only objects, but also places can reveal something that we consider significant for history, for science, for our collective memory and our individual memory.
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Anna Laza, Cyprus. Sector 63, UAP 722, 2024
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Thus the collective exhibition "Found and Discovered" explores the concept of trace and mark left by human — and non-human — presence within a given space.
The selected artists focus on found objects and places, investigating the meaning and history of what presents itself as a trace of our existence.
These fragments, which tell the stories of our passage, reflect habits, decisions, and everyday actions, revealing a hidden part of our interaction with the environment that surrounds us. Every element, from the trace left on a wall to an abandoned object, plays a crucial role within the exhibition spaces, becoming the starting point for broader reflections on memory, history, and our relationship with the world we inhabit.
In the displayed works, the found objects are isolated from their original context and reworked, acquiring new meanings and narratives. It is not only the objects that "speak" and tell stories, but also the places themselves, which, as silent witnesses, reveal fragments of a reality that can be both personal and collective.
The artistic practice of collecting, observing, and interpreting thus becomes an act of reclamation: what was abandoned or forgotten regains life and meaning, becoming a vehicle for new stories — sometimes melancholic, sometimes ironic, but always thought-provoking.
The selected artists focus on found objects and places, investigating the meaning and history of what presents itself as a trace of our existence.
These fragments, which tell the stories of our passage, reflect habits, decisions, and everyday actions, revealing a hidden part of our interaction with the environment that surrounds us. Every element, from the trace left on a wall to an abandoned object, plays a crucial role within the exhibition spaces, becoming the starting point for broader reflections on memory, history, and our relationship with the world we inhabit.
In the displayed works, the found objects are isolated from their original context and reworked, acquiring new meanings and narratives. It is not only the objects that "speak" and tell stories, but also the places themselves, which, as silent witnesses, reveal fragments of a reality that can be both personal and collective.
The artistic practice of collecting, observing, and interpreting thus becomes an act of reclamation: what was abandoned or forgotten regains life and meaning, becoming a vehicle for new stories — sometimes melancholic, sometimes ironic, but always thought-provoking.
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Anna Laza, Classified Extract: Troodos, Sector 21, 2024
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Some artists directly engage with the interaction between the individual and the found object, giving life to unexpected and random combinations, sometimes highlighting the role of chance, and other times creating new meanings through the juxtaposition of disconnected fragments. Others choose to leave the objects in their original environment, as silent traces that testify to a human passage now far in time, yet still present. In both cases, the act of rediscovery transforms into a creative act of revaluation: what was neglected, abandoned, or put back into circulation gains new life and new importance. The found objects thus take on a beauty that was often hidden from everyday view, becoming symbols of resistance to forgetting. At the same time, the artistic investigation is not only a study of the existing but also a playful endeavor. The images we see are charged with irony, testing our curiosity and perception of reality, stimulating reflection on what is real, what is the product of imagination, and what arises from chance.
Through a series of photographs, digital works, and videos, the exhibition invites the viewer to reflect on objects that symbolically represent our past, from the smallest fragment to abandoned and decaying places. "Found and Discovered" thus becomes an invitation to explore the world around us with fresh eyes, to collect fragments of hidden stories, and to reinterpret the meaning of what we see.
Through a series of photographs, digital works, and videos, the exhibition invites the viewer to reflect on objects that symbolically represent our past, from the smallest fragment to abandoned and decaying places. "Found and Discovered" thus becomes an invitation to explore the world around us with fresh eyes, to collect fragments of hidden stories, and to reinterpret the meaning of what we see.
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Malgorzata Mikolajczyk, The Tree Lost and the Sky Found, 2023
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Oscar Wilkinson, Where Ghosts of Labour Rust, 2025
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Found and Discovered Exhibition Catalog │Buy it
Wang Xinyue, Everything is Different from What You Imagine, 2024
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Juan de la Quintana, Santa Margarida, 2023
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Kristine Vann, Mecklenburg, NY / Birth of the Virgin, 2022 / 2023
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Sara Sicona-Beck, Louisiana's Lost - Hummingbird / Dragon Fly, 2012
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Found and Discovered Exhibition Catalog │Buy it
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FOUND AND DISCOVERED
28 March - 30 April, 2025
Millepiani - Via N. Odero,13, Rome - IT
linfo@millepiani.eu
+39 06.888.17.620
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