On the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the Accademia di Brera, the Museo della Grafica hosts the exhibition “Where Water Flows. Young Talents from the Accademia di Brera” curated by Giacomo Agosti and Paola Salvi (Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera), with the collaboration of Flavio Fergonzi (Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa). The exhibition is open to the public from 14 May to 14 June.
If the heart of Pisa lies in the Lungarni—possessing a beauty that stirs the soul today as it did in the time of Giacomo Leopardi—there could be no more fitting venue than Palazzo Lanfranchi for an exhibition that brings together the works of young women and men artists on the verge of graduating from, or who have recently graduated from, the Accademia di Brera, all inspired by the theme of water. Visitors are invited to immerse themselves in a variety of techniques and ideas. Some works offer an artistic interpretation that departs from the traditional image of water, while others remain more faithful to a mimetic representation of its liquid surface. The exhibition includes three-channel video installations alongside engravings produced according to the ancient chalcographic tradition, as well as works employing both experimental graphic techniques and long-established practices.
A shared sense of affection and gratitude emerges in all participants for a course of study that has revealed lesser-known aspects of the Tuscan landscape. The exhibition is in fact the result—further enriched by works from the most recent academic year—of artistic residencies held in Massa Marittima, where students were able to immerse themselves in a territory rich in water, history, and art: Lake Accesa, the nearby sea, as well as the region’s mining past and its extraordinary testimonies of medieval history and art, which here reach some of their highest expressions in Tuscany, owing in part to connections with Siena and Pisa.
Water is addressed primarily through two overarching themes: as a matrix of nature and life, and as an essential element in human activity and in the construction of an artificial world. At the same time, the exhibition does not overlook water’s “destructive” dimension, nor several issues of pressing contemporary relevance: water as a boundary to be crossed or an impassable threshold; the current water crisis and the risks it poses for the future of humanity; and its anthropological significance, in continuity between past and future.
The exhibition has been uniquely enriched through an exchange of ideas with doctoral candidates from the class of Flavio Fergonzi at the Scuola Normale Superiore, who have fostered the open development of a fertile ground for ideas.
The exhibition features works by:
Martino Allegretti, Edoardo Altobelli, Sophie Andreoletti, Edoardo Annoni, Sara Arnaù, Miao Bai, Alice Bertolasi, Sofia Berzoini, Emma Bozzi, Elisa Calevro, Monica Ceccardi, Marika Cicciomessere, Alessandro Cordani, Giovanna Cristiani, Giovanni De Luca, Ludovica Di Giancamillo, Giorgia Dieni, Savina Foresti, Julie Frosi, Lilia Garifullina, Elisa Geroni, Elisabetta Làszlo, Ying Lin, Alessandra Lotteri, Sofia Messina, Marta Mottini, Alessia Mungari, Laura Nardi, Farnaz Nematzadeh, Karen Pagani, Carmen Paladines, Stella Zaltieri Pirola, Aurora Poli, Alice Provini, Monia Quarzago, Lisa Scarella, Laura Serafini, Giorgia Sgrò, Patrizia Elvira Siviero, Elia Strazzacappa, Patrizia Tenisci, Iris Tomassetti, Barbara Trinca, Nicolò Villa, Tommaso Villani, Giorgia Zait, Xinyi Zhang.
The exhibition opening, with free admission, will take place on Thursday, 14 May 2026, at 5:00 p.m.
Museo della Grafica
(+39) 050.2216060
museodellagrafica@adm.unipi.it
www.museodellagrafica.sma.unipi.it
