Matèria is pleased to present Dispositivi per non vedere bene Roma, Giuseppe De Mattia’s first solo exhibition within Matèria’s full gallery space.

The show presents the evolution of the Dispositivo per non vedere bene (Device to impede a good view), an experimental artwork produced by De Mattia in 2014 that finds its final form in 2017 with the artist’s extended gaze on the Italian Capital.

The newly produced set of works, showcased within the two gallery rooms and the open air courtyard, are the result of the extended fieldwork undertaken by the artist.

Dispositivi per non vedere bene Roma emphasises the importance and the function of raw working materials within De Mattia’s practice and the key role of the collaboration as a fundamental tool for the production of the works exhibited. In an attempt to ‘see’ Rome, the artist relies on the help of curator Chiara Argentino, artist Fabio Barile, art critic Luca Panaro, artist Stefano Canto, artist Luca Coclite and gallerist Niccolò Fano. The Italian Capital is the location chosen by De Mattia as the emblem of the inability to see clearly what is in front of us. A reality - Rome - idealised and sustained by its beauty and millennial importance; a city in perpetual contrast between its history and its contemporary precariousness.

The impossibility being placed in focus, makes Rome the apotheosis of the paradox incarnated by Dispositivo per non vedere bene; whose ultimate function is to question the controversial role of photographic medium as a historically assigned tool for the documentation of reality.