Romanian artist Mircea Cantor's exhibition 'Constellations of Antiquity' will be hosted by the prestigious Palazzo Altemps museum in Rome from July 10 to September 27.

The exhibition will open on July 9, according to a press release issued on Friday by the Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR).

Conceived by the artist not only as an emotional experience but also as a site-specific project in dialogue with the renowned collection of ancient sculptures at the National Roman Museum - Palazzo Altemps, the exhibition tells, through 15 works and installations, the story of the artist's creative journey and his exploration of the relationship with memory, 'within the eternal dualism that shapes his everyday existence'.

The exhibition route extends through the ground-floor galleries of the museum. Among the featured works is 'The Seven Guardians', a sculptural installation inspired by ancient columns that engages in dialogue with the museum's Hall of Perspectives.

Made from pine wood and carved by craftsmen from northern Romania under the artist's supervision, the sculptures are topped with traditional fur hats, evoking the pileatus - members of the aristocratic elite of ancient Dacia.

Another work, 'Murus Dacicus', inspired by the defensive walls built by the Dacians to protect their settlements, is an installation created in situ at Palazzo Altemps and displayed on traditional handwoven carpets.

'Sleeping Hyperion' is an installation that enters into dialogue with the sleeping head of one of the Erinyes in the museum's permanent collection. The work consists of a plaster mask resting on a pile of traditional woollen blankets and reproduces, at life size, the cast of Romanian poet Mihai Eminescu's face, creating what the organisers describe as a trans-temporal encounter in an almost domestic setting.

The exhibition will be open to the public until September 27.

The project is organised in partnership with the Romanian Academy in Rome, under the patronage of the Embassy of Romania, and in collaboration with the National History Museum of Romania.

Born in Oradea in 1977, Mircea Cantor lives and works in Paris.

His works are held in major international collections, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, the Kunsthaus Zurich, the Louis Vuitton Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution, and numerous other leading museums and private collections.

Cantor won the Marcel Duchamp Prize in 2011 and the Fondation d'Entreprise Ricard Prize in 2004. He is internationally recognised for his sustained exploration of freedom and the human condition.

In 2019, he was awarded France's Order of Arts and Letters (Officer) and Romania's National Order of Cultural Merit, in the rank of Knight. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Daniel Popescu; EN - writing by: Cristina Zaharia)