LE TEMPLE DES REVES
Visionary Art Show
from 5 to 19 December 2025
Palmieri Foundation
Via Dei Sotterranei, 1 – Lecce, Italy
curated by Dores Sacquegna
“If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is… Infinite.” (Willian Blake)
The sentence by William Blake from his text of 11790 titled “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell,” which became influential in popular culture, inspiring artists, writers, and musicians, indicates that our perception of the world is limited and reduces reality to what is necessary for survival. The doors of perception therefore represent the boundaries of our current sensory and rational experience. And if they were “purified” of the limitations imposed by rationality, prejudice, and materialism, we could see reality in its true essence, which is infinite. The poet’s concept suggests how limited our perception is, and that only by transcending this limit through intuition and imagination can we access a profound and universal knowledge, grasping the infinite in everything.
The title of this new edition, Le temple des rêves show (The Temple of Dreams), has a strong element of imagination, symbolism and transcendence of conventional reality allowing access to the world of the unconscious and dreams through unprecedented scenarios that go beyond aesthetic contemplation. The show involves Italian and international artists whose practices are distinguished in visual and performing arts, neo-surrealism, underground art and design, video animations and much more. The exhibition, inspired by the Cabinet of Curiosities, where various objects were displayed in the private and aristocratic courts of Renaissance and Baroque Europe, the Visionary Art Show is being revamped in a space that combines the sacred and the profane: two contrasting but complementary spheres of reality. The sacred refers to the function of this Renaissance temple dedicated to God (the church of Saint Sebastian, now the Palmieri Foundation), while the profane is the dimension of everyday life, represented here by objects of popular culture or Cult Objects produced ‘outside the temple’. This surrealist vision of combining the two aspects of reality (spiritual and worldly) has given rise to this new direction of unusual and visionary art, which includes the characteristics of a contemporary art exhibition and the script of theatre and cinema.
In keeping with 17th-century tradition, the works follow a precise exhibition and aesthetic logic that rewards affinities and symmetry. It begins with the display of the unique and primitive specimen at the centre of the scene (a tribute to Ezechiele Leandro), surrounded by cameos (internationally acclaimed and recognized artists), and two mutants (performers), before embarking on flights of fancy into floating worlds (a review of Chinese video art) and the works of the enfants terribles (artists on display).
Unique and primitive specimen
A Tribute to Ezechiele Leandro (Italy)
Mutants (performance opening day)
- Gaka Mira – “Until we die”.
- Miss Grace – “Bugonia: The Sound of the Human Hive”.
Cameos
Shepard Fairey (US); Gabo (Armenia); Yajoy Kusama (Japan); Richard Orlinski (France).
Les mondes flottants
Yifan Jing (China); Shenlu Liu (China); Angel Jiaqi Qin (China); Jingjing Xu (China).
Les enfants terrible
Luigi Caiffa (Italy); Gianni Chiriatti (Italy); Asya Fadeyeva (US);Gaka Mira ( Belgium); Maria Luisa Imperiali (Italy); Yelena Lev (US); Monica Lisi (Italy); Nicole Martinelli (US); Sara McKenzie (US); Shirin Mohseni-Nasab (Iran); Lark Pilinsky (US); Marco Riha (Austria); Claudio Rizzo (Italy); George Sirakys (Greece);Victoria Williamson (US); Tatiana Yartseva (Russia); Franca Ze (Germany).
Vins et dégustations
- Azienda Agricola Contino Wines
- Azienda Agricola FA
Immediate release coming soon!
*Cover image from the video “1+0=1 ” by Chinese artist Angel Jiaqi Qin
