Volpe Laila Slim e gli altri
Resistance at Twenty
curated by Stefania Carretti, Lorenzo Immovilli, Erika Profumieri, Massimo Storchi and Marco Cerri
The exhibition aims to explore the complex experience of young partisans during the Italian Resistance (1943-45), in the context of the eightieth anniversary of the Liberation.
Through a series of themed sections, the exhibition illustrates the daily life, challenges, gender emancipation, ethical choices and environmental framework in which these young people operated, reflecting on the meaning of being twenty during a time of war. The stories of Volpe (Francesco Bertacchini, 1926-2024), Laila (Anita Malavasi, 1921-2011), Slim (Luciano Fornaciari, 1925-1944) and many other twenty-year-olds who, with their eloquent battle names, participated in the Resistance, offer a deeper and more personal understanding of what it means to rebel and fight for freedom, emphasising the multifaceted experiences, courage and resilience of those young partisans.
The exhibition also aims to encourage reflection on representations of historical memory and their impact on the construction of contemporary collective identity. With this in mind, an entire section is devoted to the “posthumous reconstructions” that shaped memory in the years following the Resistance, and to the primary role played by photography in creating and consolidating collective imagination.
Alongside historical photographs from the Istoreco photo archive and original documents, diaries, letters and posters from the period, the exhibition will benefit from the contribution of five artists and photographers called upon to provide a contemporary visual interpretation of the values and themes revealed by the archive documents. With their diverse and personal works, ranging from analogue photography to collaboration with artificial intelligence, and involving young people themselves in the projects, Alessandro Bartoli, Marco Belletti, Lorenzo Falletta, Alessia Leporati and Andrea Sciascia bring a glimpse of what it means to resist today for Gen Z.
Volpe Laila and the Others extends out of Spazio Gerra, in ideal fashion, into the small square in front of the building and the portico of the Isolato San Rocco, as far as Piazza della Vittoria, with an installation created by illustrators and designers that picks up on the words and values of the liberation struggle. The project is also linked to the exhibition Banditi e Ribelli (Bandits and Rebels), promoted and organised by Istoreco at the Parco Innovazione (OFF circuit), a chronicle of the twenty months of the Italian Resistance.
