Alberto Granata, Centauro, Igor Mitoraj. Foro Civile, Pompei, 2023

Cloister of Saint Abbondio

Alberto Granata / Gente di Confine.

Neither stone nor character, the statue ideally represents a point of contact between the material and the metaphysical. Due to its fascinating level of ambiguity, it has frequently attracted various photographers, each expressing their own style, aesthetic vision, and personality through images of sculpted figures. The statues photographed over time by Alberto Granata stand out for the beauty of their composition, masterful use of light, and original framing, all combined with an overarching sense of humanity that seems to place them in a border zone between the inanimate and the living.

This incisive sense of humanity inspired the title Gente di Confine (Border People), curated by Eugenio Bitetti, for the exhibition organized for the Lake Como Design Festival inside the spaces of the Università dell’Insubria. In their living and sincere antiquity, Granata's figures seem to speak to us of history, secular civilization, and pathos. As we look at them, they leave us with the comforting feeling that myth has not been lost to the modern age, but remains alive and well among us.

ALBERTO GRANATA.
GENTE DI CONFINE

Università dell'Insubria,
Cloister of Saint Abbondio,
Como, Via Regina Teodolinda 37
12-20 September 2026
10 AM - 7 PM
free entrance