The University Museum System is hosting Andrea Benetti’s exhibition “preHISTORIA CONTEMPORANEA” at Palazzo Turchi di Bagno—an ideal journey between contemporary and prehistoric art. The exhibition features twelve works by the artist (six drawings on paper and six on canvas) alongside reproductions of Paleolithic artworks, which, despite belonging to different chronological moments in prehistory, were all created by the same species: Homo sapiens.
The exhibition includes casts of two painted stones from the Grotta di Fumane, copies of engraved pebbles and blocks from Riparo Tagliente—unearthed in sites excavated by the University of Ferrara—and replicas of the rock engravings from the Grotta dell’Addaura (Palermo). This exhibition represents an evolution of “VR60768. Anthropomorphic Figure”, held at the Chamber of Deputies in 2015, now enriched with new elements and installations.
It is an event of artistic contamination, where the bold and imaginative lines—whether painted in ochre or engraved in stone—of unknown prehistoric artists engage in dialogue with Andrea Benetti’s Neorupestrian art. It is an opportunity for archaeologists and the artist to converge, as well as a chance to showcase part of the collection of Paleolithic art artifacts housed in the Museum of Paleontology and Prehistory Piero Leonardi, currently inaccessible, alongside copies of the painted stones from the Museum of Sant’Anna d’Alfaedo, on loan from the Comunità Montana della Lessinia.
This exhibition is a creative moment, a divertissement, where all visitors will have the chance to leave an imprint, a mark, or a trace…