Mario Airò, Stefano Arienti, Monica Bonvicini, Maurizio Cattelan, Miltos Manetas, Eva Marisaldi, Liliana Moro, Paola Pivi, Alessandra Tesi, Vedovamazzei, Luca Vitone, Sislej Xhafa and many others: they are some of the protagonists of the exhibition L'ESCA , which since 4 June to 11 September 2022 , presents thirty works from a private collection in the rooms of the MACTE Museum of Contemporary Art in Termoli .

The title refers to the relationship between collector and artist, which is born through a "love at first sight" for the work of art. This exhibition reveals the result of relationships built over the years by the collector with assiduous frequentation of artists' studios, galleries and exhibition spaces in various Italian cities.

ESCA tells a part of the history of this private collection, also influenced by the vision of some works that have made the history of the Termoli Prize, even before they became part of the MACTE permanent collection.

The exhibition focuses on some artists who emerged on the Italian art scene in the 1990s. These are people who have been able to play with different languages and conventions of contemporary art, but while some have continued to work successfully, others have had ups and downs or even stopped exhibiting.

Thanks to a collection collected in forty years, L'ESCA represents a unique opportunity to discover works that tell of critical, playful, narcissistic approaches, which have in common an intolerance to traditional materials and techniques in favor of a desecrating and introspective. Freed from the domestic dimension, in the halls of the museum, the collection breathes, revealing all its richness in sharing with the public, who can activate comments, opinions, comparisons.