Gaia De Megni

Leitmotiv

Curated by Francesca Guerisoli

Leitmotiv is the first major solo exhibition by Gaia De Megni (Santa Margherita Ligure, 1993 – lives between Rome and Milan), curated by Francesca Guerisoli. Already the protagonist of important international exhibitions and awards, the artist explores cinema as a tool for constructing social identities. Through a language that interweaves sculpture, video and performance, De Megni reworks the myth in a contemporary key, emphasising the communicative power of images and deconstructing narratives to reveal their latent aspects.
Leitmotiv comprises 7 new installations. The works, which differ in form and technique, revolve around a central theme: the artist’s home territory, a well-known Ligurian tourist resort suspended between authenticity and stereotypical narration. With an autobiographical approach, De Megni reflects on the deconstruction of cultural and historical codes, challenging the Western idea of history and memory as linear temporality.
The place of birth thus becomes a mutable map, an ever-changing landscape where the boundaries between reality and fiction dissolve. The artist presents heterogeneous objects and materials such as paper costumes, shadow theatre puppets, drawings on silk and rudimentary projection machines, which give life to an ephemeral and fragmentary narrative.

The instruments used, linked to the world of cinema and theatre, become devices to activate the narrative, while suggesting the possibility of narrative failure. In this context, De Megni proposes a method for exploring the ‘non-visible’, a territory that contemplates error and challenges the dynamics of contemporary hypervisibility.
Leitmotiv thus presents itself as a silent soundtrack, evoked through audio subtitles that suggest sounds, voices and noises.