Remo Salvadori. Continuo infinito presente
Curated by Elena Tettamanti and Antonella Soldaini
6 March – 7 April 2026
The Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome presents Remo Salvadori. Continuo infinito presente, a temporary installation dedicated to the eponymous work Continuo infinito presente, 1985 (2007), composed of several intertwined steel cables, one of which constitutes a work of art in its own right, Continuo infinito presente, 1985 (2003), which will be donated to the Galleria. Installed at the beginning of the permanent collection itinerary of the GNAMC, the project is curated by Elena Tettamanti and Antonella Soldaini, who were also responsible for the major exhibition distributed across several venues in Milan, held between July and September 2025, and for its catalogue.
At the heart of the project is Continuo infinito presente, a work conceived in the mid-1980s and subsequently reinterpreted in further versions that renew its presence over time. Created by intertwining steel cables until they form a perfect circular shape, the work is one of the most emblematic expressions of Salvadori’s research, which has always been oriented towards an idea of sculpture as process, experience and an energetic field, rather than as a completed object.
At first glance, the sculpture asserts itself through the clarity of its form, consisting of an essential, complete and immediately recognisable circle. Yet this formal evidence reveals a more layered conceptual structure. The circle, a primordial archetype and figure of unity, refers to the cyclical nature of natural phenomena, the rhythm of the seasons, the rotation of the stars and the periodicity of cosmic time. In its uninterrupted continuity, it also evokes the idea of eternal return and finds a symbolic echo in the image of the ouroboros, the serpent biting its own tail, an emblem of energy that endlessly consumes and regenerates itself.
Continuo infinito presente has been exhibited both in the exhibition spaces of museums, galleries and private residences and outdoors, for example around a tree (Fattoria Montellori, Fucecchio, 2006; Shoreham Park, Melbourne, 2010; Garrison, New York, 2010), a monument (the Column of San Zanobi, Florence, 2010) or a fountain (the Fontana del Gigante, Carrara, 2016).
The circle encompasses many meanings throughout the history of symbols, ranging from primordial energy to the divine, from the cyclical succession of natural phenomena to the periodicity of time and the movement of the stars. For Salvadori, the circle “consists of a permanent questioning and belongs to a higher author.” He finds an echo of this idea in a poem by Omar Khayyám: “The circle that composes all our coming and going cannot be seen where it begins or where it ends.”
Remo Salvadori. Continuo infinito presente
Curated by Elena Tettamanti and Antonella Soldaini
Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea
Viale delle Belle Arti 131, Rome
Dates
6 March – 7 April 2026
Tickets
The exhibition is included in the admission ticket to the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea.
Credits
Remo Salvadori, Continuo infinito presente, 1985.
Photo credit: Jean-Pierre Maurer
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
Among the leading Italian artists of his generation, with an established presence on the European art scene, Remo Salvadori (1947) has developed, since the 1970s, a distinctive language expressed through sculpture, installation and interventions conceived in dialogue with space. Grounded in the interaction between the viewer and elements such as water, colour and metals, Salvadori’s work seeks, through a renewed formulation, to offer a new awareness of the self and the world. Viewed retrospectively, his practice acts as a bridge between the experience of Arte Povera and the artistic developments that followed.
His creations are both a vehicle for and the outcome of a constant attentiveness to his surroundings and to what he inwardly recognises as being closely connected to reality. His attention to the time and space of his work, as well as to his own existence, intertwines with reflections on colour, form, materials, and modes of representation and observation.
Salvadori held his first solo exhibition in 1971 at the LP220 gallery in Turin. During the 1970s, his solo exhibitions were held in Milan, Bologna, Naples, Pescara and Münster. In 1982, he was among the protagonists of the 40th Venice Biennale and documenta 7 in Kassel. In 1986, he returned to the 42nd Venice Biennale and participated in Chambres d’Amis at the Museum Voor Hedendaagse Kunst in Ghent, as well as in Ouverture II at Castello di Rivoli in Italy. Towards the end of the 1980s, he presented solo and group exhibitions in Canada and at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto.
During the 1990s, he participated in national and international events, including a 1991 solo exhibition at Magasin, Centre National d’Art Contemporain in Grenoble, documenta 9 in Kassel and the 45th Venice Biennale. In 1997, he held a solo exhibition at the Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci in Prato. That same year, he participated in Arte italiana 1945–1995 in Nagoya, Tokyo, Tottori and Hiroshima; in 1999, he took part in Minimalia at P.S.1 in New York; and in 2003, he participated in the inaugural exhibition of the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo.
In 2005, he held solo exhibitions at Galleria Christian Stein in Milan and at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice. In 2008–2009, he participated in the Lives and Works in Istanbul project for Istanbul 2010, European Capital of Culture, as well as in the exhibition Semper at Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence. In 2012, he participated in Tridimensionale at MAXXI – Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo in Rome, while in 2016 his solo exhibitions were held at the Church of San Giacomo in Forlì and at the Church of the Tears in Carrara.
In 2017, his solo exhibition inaugurated the opening of BUILDING in Milan. In 2018, a major exhibition dedicated to his work was held at Stiftung Insel Hombroich in Neuss. In 2019, he received the President of the Republic Prize for Sculpture. In 2024, he created site-specific projects in Legoli, Tuscany, and for the Venice Gardens Foundation at the Convent of the Most Holy Redeemer in Venice, while two solo exhibitions were held simultaneously at BUILDING and Galleria Christian Stein in Milan. In 2025, a multi-venue exhibition was presented in Milan at Palazzo Reale, Museo del Novecento and the Church of San Gottardo in Corte.