From October 23, 2026, to January 30, 2027, the MACTE —the Museum of Contemporary Art in Termoli (Campobasso)—presents *Blu a occhiu nuru*, a solo exhibition by Elisa Giardina Papa, one year after she won the Mostra Prize as part of the 64th Termoli Prize. The exhibition is curated by Caterina Riva and centers on the film *She Flickered In and Out of History*, presented on a large LED screen and accompanied by a series of blue glass sculptures—hand-shaped and engraved—in the form of tongues.
The film is inspired by an event that took place in the Mediterranean in 1831, when a volcanic eruption gave rise to a new landmass that emerged between Tunisia and Sicily. The island’s emergence sparked a sovereignty dispute among various European powers, before the new land disappeared beneath the sea just a few months later. Through this story, Giardina Papa weaves together geological, mythological, and political narratives, reconstructing the trajectory of an island that refuses to belong to any state.
To shoot the footage, the artist worked on Mount Etna, on Stromboli, and along the submerged slopes of the volcanic islands of the Mediterranean Sea. The visual narrative is accompanied by a poem in the Sicilian language, written by Megan Fernandes based on the film’s screenplay, and by the original soundtrack composed by the New York-based composer duendita. The poetic text reflects on the island’s eruptive emergence and its subsequent rejection. The poem’s final stanza draws on historical accounts of the sun’s change in color observed following the 1831 undersea eruption. The dispersion of volcanic and sulfur particles into the atmosphere reportedly led observers from the Mediterranean to the Middle East and as far as the Caribbean to report seeing blue, green, and purple suns.
The exhibition also marks the conclusion of Caterina Riva’s tenure as MACTE’s first director, a role she assumed in 2020. The museum’s galleries will also feature a selection of works from the permanent collection—both historical and more recent—to document its growth and development over the course of six years of activity. The exhibition will also include a reinterpretation of certain moments from this period, within a space designed in collaboration with Sezione Grafica, which oversaw MACTE’s graphic design under Riva’s guidance. *She Flickered In and Out of History* was realized thanks to the support of the Italian Council 2024 program, promoted by the Directorate General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture. In 2026, the project was also presented at the ICA—Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, as well as at various international venues in Guatemala, Argentina, Croatia, Taiwan, and Colombia.
“Everything you hear in the film’s narration comes from historical documents. Nothing is invented, yet everything has been reorganized. I spent more than a year working in archives, libraries, geological collections, and scientific institutions across Sicily, Naples, Paris, London, and Zurich,” says the artist.
“Over the past few years, I have shaped the MACTE Museum,” says Caterina Riva, “as an ecosystem of relationships between works and people. These have been years marked by changes and challenges—through exhibitions, projects, and collaborations with artists and curators in Termoli—I’ve sought to question and renew the meaning of a contemporary art museum within a specific region. From *Le 3 ecologie* to the solo exhibitions by Elisa Caldana, Irene Fenara, and Elisa Giardina Papa, including the 64th Termoli Prize, these experiences have become urgent, poetic, and ecological: I leave behind a museum that is alive and attentive.”
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| Elisa Giardina Papa brings the story of the island that vanished in the Mediterranean to MACTE in Termoli |
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