IDENTITeat – Edible identities is a collective exhibition that explores the deep connection between the human being and food. The project, conceived by the independent curator from Catania, Gemma Gulisano, will be hosted by the Accademia Italiana di Roma, at via Scalo San Lorenzo 10. The exhibition will open on May 22 with some performances and will be open to visitors until June 15, 2026.
The connection between food and identity
This is an exhibition that highlights how food is a “social product and cultural phenomenon”. The project also aims to promote “food awareness, rediscovering the value of sharing, memory, and tradition”. How? Through a selection of new pictorial, sculptural, and performative works resulting from the efforts of fourteen artists active on the contemporary Italian and international art scene.
Food offers a case for investigation thanks to the layered cultural reality it embodies. The table becomes a meeting place, the kitchen a space of shared knowledge. Both its preparation and consumption are linked to daily rituals and family memories. Practices passed down that are “put to the test by accelerated rhythms and the progressive transformation of domestic and relational habits”.
Furthermore, food has a political and also symbolic value. Every purchase and food choice outlines social, economic, and environmental trajectories that define individual identities.
A theme dear to the curator who has indeed recently chosen to change her eating habits. A clarification that aims to highlight how art does not diverge from life and that what we communicate through curation or art should not be detached from our way of being in the world. What we do, our actions and wills are not neutral.
IDENTITeat – Edible identities therefore aims to enhance this approach. The exhibition thus offers an observatory of emerging practices of food awareness. Which ones?
“From the reduction of waste to the attention to seasonality, from plant-based and quality cooking to the rediscovery of the table and domestic traditions”.
Artsitə on display
The works on display are by Ginevra Collini, Margaux Compte – Mergier, Claudia Evangelista, Progetto Fatuo, Andrea Frosolini, Collettivo GMRGP, Luca Grimaldi, Eliel David Martinez Julian, Cecilia Mentasti, Jacopo Natoli, Flavio Orlando, Gaia Scaramella, and Carola Spina with the participation of Cesare Pietroiusti.
As part of the exhibition, Tuesday, May 26, 2026, from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM, Accademia Italiana hosts the performative intervention of Cesare Pietroiusti.
To participate in the performance, a reservation is required at the email address [email protected]
Italian Academy
Institute of Higher Education with a strong international vocation based in Florence and Rome. Since 1984, it has been a point of reference in training for the creative industries of fashion, design, visual communication, and photography. In June 2020, it became part of the AD Education Group. This international network specialized in higher education for creative and artistic disciplines brings together 19 schools and 70 campuses in France, Italy, Spain, and Germany, with a total of over 35,000 students. AI boasts great names in international creativity that have consolidated its history: Vivienne Westwood, Oliviero Toscani, Rick Owens, Carla Fendi, Alessandro Mendini, Domenico Guzzini, Brunello Cucinelli.
Art Study Space
Located in the heart of the Prati district of Rome, it is a center dedicated to education. It is secondly a space for research and dissemination of contemporary art. Founded in 2023 by the independent curator Gemma Gulisano, Spazio Studi Arte was created to experiment with an innovative educational methodology, aimed at the second cycle of education, and to promote contemporary art and culture through curatorial practice.
The programming includes:
the exhibition ROOMMATES and off-site projects like Armadilly | Look at me, I’m the sun! (Rome, Accademia Italiana, 2025).
Information
Exhibition venue: Accademia Italiana – Viale dello Scalo. S. Lorenzo 10, 00185 – Rome
Open to the public: from May 22 to June 15, 2026
Opening hours: by appointment on Tuesday and Thursday from 16:30 to 18:30
Vernissage: Friday, May 22, 2026, 18:00 – 21:00
Accessibility: accessible entrance with ramp and elevator; materials in Italian and English
Catalog: available from October 2026
She has collaborated for many years with art magazines such as Artribune, XIBT Contemporary, ArtApp, Insideart and Espoarte, preferring contemporary art in its many facets and media drifts.
