iCa' Pesaro – International Gallery of Modern ArtSanta Croce
Peruvian artist Nicolás Lamas assembles found objects and fragments into sculptures and installations probing how systems of classification shape what we see.
A Xerox photocopier stands with its insides opened up, and packed into the gaps are a wasp nest, coral, a book and a plaster bust of the Greek orator Isocrates. Exibart found the pairing almost comically lopsided: two technologies of memory, both outliving their jobs. It's the first photocopier most people will be happy to see out of order.
The rest of the Project Room works the same way, with sculptures and prints built from found objects, instrument parts, bones and electronic scrap. You find a glass-fronted industrial fridge holding a bone flute, a prosthetic hand and smartphones, and a book crushed between two blocks of Portoro marble. Exibart's point is that you can't tell whether the fridge holds finds, specimens, products or art.
It's one room, so it fits around a visit to the collection. The museum lists the show as free access until 22 November. Ca' Pesaro is closed Mondays and closes at 17:00 from 1 November.
Planned Obsolescence (2019)
Look for the gutted Xerox copier with a plaster bust of Isocrates, a wasp nest, coral and a book packed into its cavities.
The Agony of the Past (2023)
A book clamped between two blocks of Portoro marble, pressed so hard that its text can no longer be read.
What Does the Future for Storage Hold? (2025)
An industrial glass-fronted fridge stocked with a bone flute, a wasp nest inside a helmet, a prosthetic hand, smartphones and 3D prints.
Biomechanical Equipment (2021)
A ratchet set in its toolbox, with the missing tools replaced by fragments of archaeological human bone.
Posthuman Portrait (Blue Wafer) (2026)
A print of a Roman emperor's carved portrait covered by a blue silicon wafer, the image the museum uses for the show.
You want painting: this room is assemblages of found objects, bones and electronic scrap.