Sculpture as a spatial and auditory experience, capable of altering the relationship between the visitor, the material, and the architecture. This is the guiding principle behind the exhibition *Olam, You Who Ride White Donkeys*, the first major exhibition dedicated to Italian sculptor Federico Fusj ( Siena, 1967) in the Czech Republic, presented by the Alšova Jihočeská Galerie at Casa Wortner in České Budějovice. Opened on June 18, the exhibition will run through October 18, 2026, and was conceived specifically for the gallery’s spaces, where the marble and onyx works interact with sound and the building’s historic architecture.
For Federico Fusj, the gallery is not merely a container designed to house a series of sculptures. The exhibition space becomes an integral part of the work and contributes to its perceptual construction. In this sense, Casa Wortner offers a particularly significant context, as it brings together a contemporary dimension—characterized by a white, minimalist gallery—and the building’s historical dimension, most evident in its original colonnade. It is precisely on the contrast between these two architectural conditions that the artist builds his installation: the small sculptures made of marble and onyx are distributed throughout the space and accompanied by a sound installation that alters the way visitors move through the rooms and perceive the works. The exhibition route is therefore not merely a succession of sculptures, but becomes an essential component of the experience.
The title *Olam, You Who Ride White Donkeys* introduces an additional layer of interpretation. The reference is biblical and draws on the Book of Judges, while the motif of pilgrimage is brought into the exhibition space through the viewer’s movement. Visitors entering Casa Wortner are invited to move among the works and, in doing so, to progressively build ever-changing relationships between stone, light, sound, and architecture. In fact, every shift in position produces a change in perspective: the sculptures are not perceived as static, but change in relation to the viewer’s position, the characteristics of the environment, and the sound component. The space between one work and another thus takes on an importance equal to that of the sculptures themselves.
This is one of the central aspects of the project, as explained by Miroslav Halák, curator of the Belvedere Museum in Vienna and the exhibition’s scientific director. “The space between the objects takes on the same importance as the objects themselves,” he says. “The viewer moves among the stone forms just like a pilgrim in the landscape. The installation creates a situation in which space, material, and sound influence one another and together shape the meaning of the work.” Sculpture is thus conceived not merely as volume and matter, but as a process in which the artist’s gesture simultaneously generates a physical transformation and an acoustic dimension. The sound of the carving process is therefore not an accidental phenomenon, but rather forms part of Fusj’s reflection on the very nature of the sculptural act.
The Casa Wortner project is part of the research that Federico Fusj has been pursuing for over thirty years, which has led him to progressively challenge the traditional boundaries of sculpture. Born in Siena in 1967, Fusj is considered a leading figure in contemporary Italian sculpture and has exhibited his works at major institutions and events in Italy and abroad. Among the venues where his work has been exhibited are the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Siena, the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, the S.M.A.K. in Ghent, the Moderna Galerija in Ljubljana, and the Havana Biennial. His exhibition history also includes the MAN Museum in Nuoro, the Certosa di Padula, and numerous galleries on the national and international art scene.
The artist’s career also includes experiences such as Italia ’90 Flash Art, Imprevisto-Castello di Volpaia, Watary-um, and Sonsbeek 9, in addition to exhibitions held in museums, institutions, and public and private spaces. This journey has led Fusj to engage with diverse contexts and has progressively solidified a personal artistic practice grounded in the relationship between material, space, and perception.
His reflection on sculpture as sound art was also articulated in the 2023 manifesto *Sculpture as Sound Art*. From this perspective, the work is not considered a mere object to be observed—placed in a space independent of one’s own presence—but rather a vibrant action that takes shape through sound and redefines the relationship between the viewer, the environment, and depth. This marks a significant shift in Fusj’s conception of sculpture: from volume understood as an autonomous form to sculpture understood as a comprehensive sensory experience. Material remains central, but it is no longer the sole element through which the work is perceived. Sound, movement, and architecture become integral to the very structure of the artistic experience. The exhibition in České Budějovice offers a concrete opportunity to observe this concept. The marble and onyx sculptures, which are relatively small compared to the size of the spaces, do not seek to impose themselves simply through scale or monumentality. Their presence is constructed through their relationship with the surrounding space and through the distances that separate them.
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| Federico Fusj on display in the Czech Republic: his sculptures at the Wortner House in České Budějovice |
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