1:1 RUIN(E)

Students from the École des Arts Décoratifs-PSL, the Academy of Fine Arts of Naples and the Academy of Fine Arts of Warsaw gather in Naples, among the spaces of the Educational Department at Fondazione Morra Greco, for an exhibition crowning their workshop held at Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine in Paris, led by Professors Giuseppe Caccavale and Gaetano Cunsolo.

The title 1:1 RUIN(E) invites visitors to reflect on the traces the architectural heritage carries within itself and its ruins, exploring the dialogue evoked by languages such as 1:1 scale drawing as well as the techniques of surveying and cartography.

The spaces of the Cité de Paris — the galleries made of wall paintings and casts, housed by architectures both modern and contemporary — have been transformed into a veritable, 1:1 scale ground for artistic experimentation, allowing students to dive into the technique of life-size drawing. Alongside drawings based on surveys conducted through the city of Paris, drawings conceived during study trips to the archaeological sites of Cumae and Baia will also be on display — adding further layers of history and interpretation.

Both in the lectures and workshop itinerary for 1:1 RUIN(E), the concept of ruins was reinterpreted as a possibility to represent the most intimate places of individual and collective memory. The changes undergone over time by a landscape are fragmented testimonies of the past openly confronting the complexities of the present — a timeless dialogue perfectly embodied by the headquarters of Fondazione Morra Greco, where the hypogeum of Greco-Roman origin blends harmoniously with twentieth-century architecture. It is this precise historical layering, along with the contemporary nature of the spaces, that made Fondazione Morra Greco an appropriate choice to host the workshop’s final exhibition.

We would like to thank the faculty: Gaetano Consulo, Giuseppe Caccavale, Gilda Cerullo, Pier Luigi Ciapparelli, Iole Cilento, Alexandra Fau, Aleksandra Jatczak, Nera Prota, Gennaro Vallifuoco; students from the École des Arts Décoratifs-PSL, the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples and the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw; Fondazione Morra Greco’s Head of Education Services Francesca Blandino, Fondation d’entreprise Hermès, Clotilde Punzo, Anna Maria Lubrano Lavadera and Anna Bosco; Patrizia Valerio and the Erasmus Office of the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples, the Adam Mickiewicz Institute in Warsaw.

This workshop was realized thanks to the welcoming team of Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine and Fondazione Morra Greco, and was sponsored by the program NID — Nouveaux Imaginaires du Dessin Chair at the École des Arts Décoratifs-PSL, constantly committed to discovering and supporting new talents through the art of drawing. In addition, this important pedagogical project, whose name suggests in itself both a refuge and multiple escape routes, is supported by Hermès.

The project is co-financed with funds derived from Piano Strategico Cultura e Turismo 2024/2025 – Progetto Global Forum Mostre d’arte contemporanea EDI 2025.