Without saints, without heroes: Zerocalcare's new exhibition is held at the Palazzo Pretorio in Peccioli (Pisa)

From May 29 to Sept. 20, 2020, the Museo di Palazzo Pretorio in Peccioli (Pisa) will host the exhibition Senza santi, senza eroi (Without Saints, Without Heroes), a solo show by cartoonist Zerocalcare (Michele Rech; Arezzo, 1983), which tells the story of contemporary Italy as opposed to that of the 1970s and 1980s that portrayed our country as a cradle of civilization, progress, possibility and freedom. The exhibition, curated by Giulia Ferracci, includes works produced between 2003 and 2020, including new works specially created by Zerocalcare for the occasion.

There are many underlying questions that Zerocalcare asks: who are the last and the exploited today? Who are those who are left behind while others are moving forward? What happened to the heroes and saints when they come to save us? For Zerocalcare, we should be under no illusions, because the heroes and saints are not there, and instead there are those who are moving forward, trying to find collective solutions to get out of social malaise.

The exhibition opens with nine portraits on canvas and gold leaf depicting the best-known characters from Zerocalcare’s repertoire, such as T-rex, Lady Cocca, Robin Hood, Kurt Kobain, Gaetano Bresci, and the Secco. The exhibition’s narrative traces some of the central icons of our contemporaneity and declares, in a lighthearted way, that today’s saints and heroes are not only those who sacrifice their lives with memorable deeds but are also and above all those who fight daily to have a place in the world, a world where social inequalities are becoming more and more evident, the struggle for rights weaker, and trust in institutional politics a chimera.

The second section starts with the idea that it is not possible to stand idly by while the future is robbed from us by choices that do not protect the common good. One finds here illustrations related to the various social opposition movements of recent years and also stories from international and Italian news, such as the death of Renato Biagetti in La politica non c’entra niente (together with Push/R), 2007, or Gaetano Bresci in Autocensure, 2015, and again 6 pages on 3 months in prison, 2018. This is followed by events taken from the national news as political and ethical insights into attitudes stemming from fascist doctrine, such as Questa non è una partita a bocce, published in L’Espresso in 2018. Finally, an examination of protest movements is also included: 2007’s See you on the Barricades, 2017’s Ilva, 2015’s Freedom to Dwell, and 2018’s No Borders. Closing the exhibition circuit is an in-depth look at the defense of civil rights as expressed in the panels of Fattigli più tette (2012), Coppie di fatto (2016) and analysis of the ills of our society as in The Demon of Availability (2013).

“I still have faith that things can change, that something can be done,” Zerocalcare said. “I think it makes sense to do things, to manifest, to communicate, to enact changes, to experiment with forms of life, commerce, sociality, culture. That is worth much more than any ideology or belief in revolution.”

The exhibition, with free admission, opens every day except Monday: Tuesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Without Saints, Without Heroes is produced by Minimondi Eventi, conceived and produced by Silvia Barbagallo, and promoted by the Peccioli Foundation for Art.

Without saints, without heroes: Zerocalcare's new exhibition is held at the Palazzo Pretorio in Peccioli (Pisa)

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