Giacomo De Luca in Lecce: "The Relic Body"

Until 18 May 2026, MUST – Museo Storico Città di Lecce presents Giacomo De Luca's first solo exhibition in Italy, titled The Relic Body – what remains of the egg, between resistance, archive and spirituality in the contemporary. Curated by Cesare Biasini Selvaggi and Matteo Scabeni, the show unfolds across sacred sites, institutions and unconventional spaces in the Salento area.

De Luca's practice frames the “relic body” as a living archive: a site of individual and collective memories, traumatic traces and historical layers. Using a transdisciplinary language that mixes sculpture, video, dance and performance, the artist reveals how the body can embody the imperceptible and become a device for poetic resistance.

Highlights on display

• Double Shell – a glass installation with egg-shell fragments treated with myrrh, evoking purification.
• Untitled (Chair) – a suspended chair covered in shell mosaics, turning an everyday object into a vessel of intimacy and trauma.
• The Academic – formative garments coated in resins and fragments, conceived as organic relics with ritual connotations.
• Madonna – a stone sculpture suggesting a move toward liberation from traditional religious burdens.

Why visit

The exhibition provides a synesthetic, contemplative experience: organic materials, performative gestures and transformed objects prompt reflection on the role of the body in contemporary art, memory and ritual. De Luca is also the sole Salento artist included in the international mapping Futuri Emergenti Italiani (under 35) 2026, underscoring the European relevance of his practice.

Practical information

• Venue: MUST – Museo Storico Città di Lecce, Sala Marianna Elmo
• Period: until 18 May 2026
• Address: Via Degli Ammirati, 11, 73100 Lecce (LE), Italy
• Access: the show includes installations, sculptures and performances connected to the Sensorium 2.0 methodological path, designed to activate memory, ritual and poetic forms of resistance.