The exhibition is spread over three rooms in which visitors are accompanied by the guidance of noble and wise shadows linked to the story of Ricci – not only Umberto Eco but also Jorge Luis Borges – with multimedia transits of words and thoughts. In the first, dedicated precisely to Eco, the voice and words - excerpts, quotations and reflections - of the great writer will guide the public in a labyrinth with reflecting walls: a maze of mirrors animated by visions that invite re-read the history of the labyrinth in its symbolic and psychological meanings.
In the second room there are works of art that narrate the historical development of the labyrinths in a 360-degree multimedia immersion: the iconography of the labyrinths, the images and the animations help to create a changing and dynamic environment.
In the third room, there are important loans with fascinating and mysterious paintings, such as the sixteenth century Portrait of Bartolomeo Prati by Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli and various printed and illuminated works from the Renaissance to today: ancient volumes illustrated with labyrinths, such as the codex by Lelio Pittoni conserved in the Library of Florence, or the volume Invention prisons, with chalcographic prints by Giovan Battista Piranesi, the magazine
Minotaur of Skira, to touch the idea of the labyrinth and how this symbol has participated in the history of the world.
In the fourth and final room, a selection of works by the contemporary Giovanni Soccol from the series Labyrinths, lead visitors through fascinating and symbolic scenarios that represent a real emotional investigation.
The exhibition is accompanied by a guide/catalogue of Soccol's exhibited works together with the volume Labyrinths, entirely edited by Franco Maria Ricci and published with Rizzoli – updated reprint of the 2013 version – with the preface by Umberto Eco, the text by Giovanni Mariotti, which leads the reader to discover the history of the labyrinths and the mythological dictionary edited by Luisa Biondetti to deepen the part of the myth linked to Greek culture.
The exhibition is organized with the patronage of the Ministry of Culture, the Emilia-Romagna Region, the Municipality of Fontanellato, the Municipality of Parma and the installations are by Neo Tech.
The exhibition is open every day, except Tuesdays, from 10.30 to 19.
