The Civic Museum of Castelbuono (Palermo) presents *Heaven+Earth*, a new project by American artists John Sanborn and Ionee Waterhouse, which opened on May 24, 2026, at the Castello dei Ventimiglia and will remain on view through August 30. Curated by Laura Barreca, the installation is supported by PAC2025—Plan for Contemporary Art, promoted by the Directorate General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture, under the patronage of the University of Palermo and the “Alma Mater” University of Bologna, as well as in collaboration with the MEET Digital Culture Center in Milan, the Academy of Fine Arts in Palermo, and the Ypsigrock Festival.
The project features a multimedia installation that connects the celestial and earthly realms through digital images obtained by scanning the zoomorphic and phytomorphic figures of the stuccoes in the Palatine Chapel of St. Anne, created in 1684 in the Ventimiglia Castle by master decorators Giacomo and Giuseppe Serpotta. The images are superimposed onto the faces of some residents of Castelbuono and subsequently reworked using artificial intelligence, giving rise to a work that unfolds within the museum space through projections onto the architecture and onto a large two-faced sculpture, conceived as a figure akin to a two-faced Janus standing guard over the symbolic boundary between the sacred and the profane.
The installation is accompanied by a quadraphonic sound composition created by sound designerAndreaLudovic, which helps transform the work into an environment based on the interaction between electronic imagery and sound.
The project brings together two figures active on the international scene of video art and digital experimentation. John Sanborn, born in the United States in 1954, is considered one of the pioneers of electronic arts, while Ionee Waterhouse, born in 1985, focuses her research on video mapping and generative animation techniques. Their installation establishes a dialogue with the decorative heritage of the Palatine Chapel at the Ventimiglia Castle, connecting it to the local community through the direct involvement of some of the town’s residents.
The initiative explores the relationship between art, science, and technology through a contemporary reinterpretation of Sicily’s Baroque heritage. The project focuses on the symbolic value of the chapel’s decorative elements and evokes a conception of knowledge that, prior to Galileo’s scientific revolution, saw the philosopher, scientist, and artist united in a single figure, connecting the human dimension with the spiritual one.
Heaven+Earth is part of the research initiative developed by the Castelbuono Civic Museum, which in recent years has promoted original productions characterized by site-specific practices, community engagement, and the reinterpretation of historical and artistic heritage through the languages of contemporary art.
The project is supported by a scientific committee composed of Sebastiano Bavetta, Alessandra Buccheri, Valentino Catricalà, Antonio Chella, Sandra Lischi, Filippo Lubrano, Sebastiano Maffettone, Diego Mantoan, Silvia Moretti, Maria Grazia Mattei, Francesco Spampinato, Pierfrancesco Palazzotto, and Valentina Valentini. The group’s collective expertise ranges from modern and contemporary art history to robotics, from philosophy to studies on the relationship between art, science, and technology, with the aim of guiding the project as an interdisciplinary platform open to diverse interpretations.
Alongside the exhibition, a public program is planned, beginning with a series of presentations: on May 22 at the University of Palermo, on May 26 at the MEET Digital Culture Center in Milan, and on May 27 at the Alma Mater University of Bologna. In Castelbuono, meanwhile, Maria Rosa Sossai will curate a series of community-focused events. The first event will take place on May 28 at the Civic Museum, followed by a session on June 13 in the museum’s former stables and another on June 20 in the town’s historic courtyards. The sessions will explore the theoretical and design themes addressed by the installation, with a particular focus on immersive practices and the use of artificial intelligence in the promotion of cultural heritage.
The project will also be linked to the Ypsigrock Festival, an event dedicated to contemporary music scheduled to take place in Castelbuono from August 6 to 9, 2026, through a projection displayed on the facade of the Ventimiglia Castle. Finally, the initiative is accompanied by a catalog published by Silvana Editoriale, edited by Laura Barreca and Stephen Sarrazin, which brings together critical essays by members of the scientific committee.
“In Heaven + Earth, ” say artists John Sanborn and Ionee Waterhouse, “we explore the mystical realm between the tangible and the unseen, the material and the transcendent. Our work begins with the recognition that human existence is not linear but cyclical: we turn inward, we break apart, we dissolve, and we reemerge in new forms. All while seeking solutions to questions that cannot be answered. Using digital reinterpretations of Baroque stucco and the faces of real people, Heaven + Earth fuses the divine and the ordinary, revealing what they share: fragility, wonder, contradiction, and the aspiration toward continuity. “The dialogue between artificial intelligence, historical heritage, and human presence becomes a space where the cycles of rebirth, memory, and transcendence can be experienced rather than merely described.”
“Thanks to the collaboration with artists Sanborn and Waterhouse, the Castelbuono Civic Museum establishes itself as a space for technological and cultural experimentation,” says Laura Barreca, Director of the Civic Museum. “This project allows us to use technology not only as a medium but as a generative language, capable of integrating digital images, sculpture, and sound design into a complex installation where historical and artistic heritage, creativity, and new forms of participation enter into dialogue.”
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| Palermo: AI and video art reinterpret the stucco work in the Palatine Chapel of Castelbuono |
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