Extinction – Max Papeschi

MAX PAPESCHINES

EXTINCTION

“When the sun of culture is low on the horizon, the dwarfs look like giants”, Karl Klaus

Curated by Stefania Morici and Antonio Calbi

Casa del Combattente, Salerno – Lungomare Trieste

From 7 November 2026 to 4 April 2027

Opening November 7, 2026 hours 17.30 | Within the framework of Luci d’Artista

In Salerno the army of Max Papeschi opens to the sea: 46 sculptures and 3 luminous works for a needle of peace

After Milan, Malpensa, Paris, Matera and Palermo,Extinction, the projectMax Papeschiedited byStefania MoriciandAntonio Calbi, arrives in Salerno in a special edition: 46 sculptures arranged with fan to the sea enriched by three new luminous works realized in collaboration with Quadruslight. The opening is scheduledsaturday 7 november at 17.30to theHouse of the Fighter, on the Lungomare Trieste, as part of Luci d’Artista; the installation will remain visible until the4 april 2027.

With the patronage ofMunicipality of Salernoand theItalian Institute of Culture of Paris, the exhibition finds house in a venue whose name recalls one of the central themes of the project: war and its role in the history of humanity.

Extinction comes from a provocative hypothesis: the human species is extinct and an extraterrestrial civilization attempts to rebuild the past through the surviving fragments. Information is incomplete, references are confused and interpretations generate a series of errors and false reconstructions. Through this archaeological imagination, Papeschi returns an amazing portrait of our civilization, in which symbols of power and popular culture overlap.

The protagonist of the exhibition isZwergen Dämmerung, the terracotta army with the head of gnome and the body of the warriors of the Xi’an army. The work transforms the military imagination into a monumental and grotesque presence: the repetition of the figures and their apparent uniformity evoke the discipline of the army, while the short circuit between visual references destabilizes authority. These false findings suggest the image of a humanity characterized by a perennial belligerent state, capable of pursuing peace through confrontation, until it transforms war into an object of veneration. Irony thus becomes a tool to question the contradictions of the present and the distance between the proclaimed values and the actions that mark collective history.

The site-specific exhibition for Salerno

For the Salerno stage, Extinction presents itself in an unusual configuration, designed specifically for the Casa del Combattente by the architectGiovanni Musicaof the studyMGAlab. The 46 sculptures will not be arranged in the traditional military formation, but according to a fan design open to the sea, as an ideal embrace to the Mediterranean. An army that does not advance to conquer, but opens to dialogue: an architectural gesture that overthrows the logic of the front and transforms the square into a need for peace.

At the Casa del Combattente, the project acquires a further resonance: the reference to the conflict inscribed in the name of the site enters into dialogue with a work that questions its continuous repetition. The alien gaze imagined by Papeschi invites the public to observe humanity from the outside and to wonder what testimony it would leave of itself.

Why Salerno

Salerno is not a casual stop. It is a city that has chosen not to turn on the other side: it has made memory, hospitality and culture an antidote to war and an argine to embark and ignorance, transforming the story of the landing into an emblem of peace and rebirth. Bringing Extinction here means doing it in a city that chooses to respond with culture and with the courage of ideas.

“Today more than ever we have to say NO to wars, to cultural embarkation, to ignorance”, statesStefania Morici, project curator. “The chronicles of these days show us a society increasingly on our knees, looking for spiragli. Art must indicate a direction: Extinction speaks of an endangered world, but is an anthem to hope”.

“Make love, do not make war: it is the slogan that, from the student movements of the late 1960s, has shaken the Western world and given way to a wave of antimilitarism spread throughout the globe” declaresAntonio Calbi, director ofItalian Institute of Culture of Parisand co-curator of the project. “Today more than ever, it is necessary to reiterate with renewed strength that armed conflicts bring only destruction and pain, and to commit ourselves so that dialogue and confrontation return to be the “arms” of international diplomacy. Extinction is the aesthetic and political gesture together that Max Papeschi bangs us in the face, with irony but without forgetting the thought. The small platoon of warriors with the head of Gnome interrogates us and urges us to reflect, smiling but not less intensely. From Milan to Paris, from Matera to Palermo and now to Salerno, the sculptures of Extinction do not stop: continue with their message of peace and beauty”.

With its ironic and desacrating language, Extinction transforms the story of a possible extinction into a reflection on the responsibility of the present, on the fragility of memory and on the ability of man to recognize his paradoxes and, perhaps, to save himself.

The works ofZwergen Dämmerung, part of the Extinction project by Max Papeschi, arrive in Salerno thanks to the free loan granted byEmanuele FerreriandAlessandro Siviero, collectors and founders ofAssociationthis initiative aims to contribute to the dissemination of contemporary art and to the dialogue between culture, institutions and territory. ‘We believe that the value of a work of art is fully expressed when it meets the public and becomes an opportunity for reflection and confrontation. With this spirit we have chosen to make available the works of Extinction free of charge, sharing with the city of Salerno and its institutions a project that, through irony, invites us to question us about our time and responsibility to build a future of peace» commentEmanuele FerreriandAlessandro Siviero.

The Salernitana edition is realized with the support ofFiliberto and Bianca Menna Foundationand theLimen Association.

The event was realized thanks to the contribution of several partners who allowed it to be realized.

Main Partner: FIREK

Special Partner: FIDIM

Friends Partners: DLA International Forwarder, P.F. Ship, Molajoni Antincendi.

Official Print Partner: Italtec Advertising

Insurance Company: Axio Insurance Broker

Biography Max Papeschi

Max Papeschi arrives in the world of contemporary art at the end of 2008, after an experience as an author and director in theatre, television and cinema. The medial clamor lifted by his giant work on the facade of a palace in the center of Poznan in Poland projects it on the international scene, making it in no time one of the most famous Italian artists abroad in just 10 years of activity has realized more than 60 personal exhibitions and participated in a hundred collective exhibitions around the world. In 2014 his autobiography “Vendere Svastiche e Vivere Felici” was published by Sperling & Kupfer (Gruppo Mondadori). In 2016 he released his second book “Max vs Max” published by Giunti Editore in the United States. Since April 2016 he has been bringing around the world the cultural-humanitarian project Welcome to North Korea, a real artistic precedent created in collaboration with Amnesty International, which combines digital art, performance and installations in a multimedia operation that through a fictitious and parodistic regime propaganda reveals the horrors perpetuated by dictator Kim Jong Un.www.maxpapeschi.com it.wikipedia. org/wiki/ Max Papeschics