EXHIBITION REVIEW
ROME INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR – 17TH EDITION 2025
December 05 – 18, 2025
ITSLIQUID Art Space – Rome

ITSLIQUID Group is pleased to announce the great success of the 17th edition of ROME INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR 2025, an international exhibition of photography, painting, video art, installation/sculpture and performance art, at ITSLIQUID Art Space – Rome. The Art Fair opened its doors on December 05, and will run until December 18, 2025.

Click here to read more about the press release
Click here to see the photo full reportage

ROME INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR 2025 explores the relationship between body and space, as well as the ongoing hybridization between identities and cultural, physical, social, and urban contexts in contemporary society. The exhibition is articulated into two main sections: MIXING IDENTITIES and FUTURE LANDSCAPES.

MIXING IDENTITIES investigates the hidden dimensions of who we are and the countless ways in which identity can be expressed, guiding visitors through an experience that evokes a labyrinth of consciousness. FUTURE LANDSCAPES focuses on the notion of boundaries – between body, mind, and spirit; between individuals and the city; and between space and ground – transforming everyday surfaces into a fluid continuum of open, evolving ideas.

A shared thread of intuition, material exploration, and inner transformation connected the practices of the artists participating in the 17th edition of ROME INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR, each engaging with different forms to reveal how art can hold memory, emotion, and renewed meaning. Maria Elena Nelson-Lavie preserved and promoted the artistic legacy of her mother – Maria Elena Lavie – through a body of work defined by intuitive force and expressive immediacy, highlighting its authenticity and emotional depth: her mission is to safeguard a vibrant artistic heritage and invite contemporary audiences to rediscover the energy, sincerity, and imaginative power that shaped this vision.

From this introspective realm, the exhibition expanded into a symbolic and atmospheric dimension created by Lúcia Ribeiro and Maria Matic, where identity, perception, and contemporary reinterpretations of space intersected. Ribeiro’s paintings, rooted in a life between Portugal and Switzerland, merged recollection, evocative resonance, and the rhythms of nature into hybrid figures that blurred the boundaries between body and landscape, and entered inner mythologies. This journey from intuition to symbolic transformation flowed seamlessly into Matic’s vibrant spatial investigations, where her multicultural background and deep connection to art and architecture transformed the expanse into an intuitive, sensorial terrain. Through layered glazes, luminous contrasts, and dynamic brushwork, she dissolved the borders between remembrance and surroundings, creating radiant environments where positivity, movement, and imagination continuously reshaped the relationship between self, sensation, and the world.

Extending this exploration into new spatial and spiritual registers, Xu Kangyi introduced a framework of quiet urban poetics, where fleeting encounters and shifting geographies shaped the architecture of experience. Moving between China and USA, Xu observed the city as a living field of transient connections, silhouettes, reflections, and subtle gestures that echoed the fluidity of selfhood. His photographs merged personal recollection with the atmospheric rhythms of public life, dissolving the boundary between figure and its physical landscape in ways that resonated with Marcello Ballardini’s luminous sculptural worlds. Drawing on cross-cultural experience and formative encounters with Aboriginal cosmologies, Ballardini transformed the void into an embodied terrain where primal energy, meditative presence, and modern materiality converged. Together, their practices expanded cognition – inviting viewers into immersive fields where being, space, and the subtle frequencies that bind them remain fluid, porous, and continuously reimagined.

From this heightened perceptual field, the exhibition moved into a symbolic and cyclical landscape shaped by Phyllis Plumley and Aurėja Jucevičiūtė, where myth, memory, and cyclical transformation guided the viewer’s experience. Plumley’s exploration of archetypes and spiritual thresholds is intertwined with Jucevičiūtė’s use of Rėda symbolism, creating a dialogue between ancestral knowledge and contemporary perception. Together, their works echoed ancient seasonal rhythms and inner journeys, each composition pulsing with quiet ritualistic intent. In this convergence of past and present, personal reflection and collective heritage, the exhibition revealed identity as a continuous, living process – renewed through remembrance, imagination, and the shifting landscapes of human consciousness.

This exploration of fluidity found a powerful counterpoint in the work of Alev Özegeli, whose multidisciplinary background – ranging from civil engineering to economics and political engagement – introduced a dynamic interplay between structure and affect. Her visual language drew on expressionist, cubist, and fauvist lineages, merging analytical precision with expressive intuition. In Özegeli’s compositions, contrasting planes, vibrant chromatic tensions, and intersecting geometries revealed the human’s core as a domain of negotiation rather than certainty, opening a terrain in which the self evolves through tension, balance, and continual redefinition.

What began as an exploration of hidden selves and shifting boundaries evolved into a terrain where identities, histories, and environments steadily intertwined: the exhibition invited viewers to navigate shifting inner and outer landscapes, where meaning remained fluid and perception open.

organized by ITSLIQUID Group
curator Luca Curci
general manager Giulia Tassi
project manager Amaride Ferrante
project coordinator Annachiara Recchia
artist coordinator Ilaria Parlato
graphic designers Marina Caracciolo, Alberto Grimaldi

---

---

ABOUT US

ITSLIQUID is a web-based information platform, founded in 2001 by Luca Curci, dedicated to the worldwide distribution of information about calls for entries, exhibitions and events at some of the world’s leading art galleries, museums and foundations. ITSLIQUID has already built a readership of more than 300.000 qualified subscribers. Among them are architects, designers, artists, collectors, art critics, curators, dealers, and other personalities of the International art, architecture and design world. It provides advertising services, press office services for events and projects, articles and specials published on the website, and media partnership services.

During the last 20 years, ITSLIQUID Group has become a cultural hub between creatives, exhibition spaces and art lovers. Among our international partners, Art Now Fair, Art Vancouver, Design Tokyo, INDEX Qatar, INDEX Saudi, The Big 5 Construct Dubai, The Big 5 Construct Qatar, Photo LA Los Angeles and international magazines like Art Style. ITSLIQUID Group supports some of the most important non-profit organizations, like UNFCCC – United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, SSCS – Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, One Tree Planted, The Ocean CleanUp and Plastic Oceans, with the goal to increase public awareness about environmental issues. Click here to find out more.

ITSLIQUID GROUP includes a section dedicated to the organization of international art events, managing exhibitions of painting, photography, video art, installation and performance; it organizes solo and collective shows, art residencies and international contests. Its object is to use new technologies to globalize the language of art, and to connect artists working in every part of the world.

ITSLIQUID Group manages a variety of art spaces all over the world; among them Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello in Venice and different historical buildings, ELEMENTS Contemporary Art Space in the London city centre and other different partners worldwide. Since 2001, ITSLIQUID Group has organized over 350 international events, engaging more than 10,000 artists across over 60 global venues. Its initiatives have featured prestigious museums like the CCCB – Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona in Spain, the NCCA – National Center for Contemporary Arts in Moscow, the MuMo – Museum Montanelli in Prague, and at the MUST Museum in Lecce, in addition to numerous galleries and private foundations. Thanks to its partnership with Sedition, ITSLIQUID has presented masters such as Bill Viola and Refik Anadol, offering high-level opportunities for young, mid-career, and renowned artists.

ITSLIQUID is based on fluidity, motion, connection and accessibility. Making things easy to do. Welcome.

---

OUR LOCATION

ITSLIQUID Art Space – Rome  is a Contemporary Art Space in the city centre of Rome. The Gallery hosts solo and collective shows with a rich variety of contemporary painters, photographers, designers, architects, sculptors, performers and video makers.

ITSLIQUID Art Space – Rome is located in a prestigious historical building, a few minutes walk from Colosseum and Roman Forum. The exhibition space is on the ground floor, with four main rooms and three bright shop windows on the street. Easily accessible, the space is fully equipped for hosting exhibitions and events. ground floor, with four main rooms and three bright shop windows on the street. Easily accessible, the space is fully equipped for hosting exhibitions and events.