UN/VEILED: Cy Twombly, Music, Inspirations was the first edition of a project presented by the Fondazione Nicola Del Roscio in collaboration with the Cy Twombly Foundation. Curated by Nicola Del Roscio and Eleonora Di Erasmo, it combined an exhibition of selected works by Cy Twombly with live concerts, video screenings, and recorded music presented at the Fondazione Nicola Del Roscio in Rome.

The project is the result of an ongoing research initiative undertaken by the Cy Twombly Foundation at its branches in Rome and Gaeta. Initiated at the behest of Nicola Del Roscio, this survey initially sought to identify, document, and preserve musical compositions inspired by Twombly’s work or conceived in dialogue with it. This first stage of the research led to the formation of a dedicated musical archive, bringing together works by composers and musicians across a range of genres, from jazz and classical music to experimental and electronic practices.

This archival research provided the conceptual framework for the first edition of UN/VEILED. A selection of Twombly’s works on paper from the 1970’s including two Studies for Treatise on the Veil were presented in the exhibition. Twombly made this series of drawings and collages in response to listening to Pierre Henry’s piece, Le Voile d’Orphée (1953). The exhibition space simultaneously functioned as a listening station, where the artworks were brought into dialogue with a selection of Harold Budd musical compositions including two pieces dedicated to the artist: Mars and the Artist (after Cy Twombly), 2011 and Veil of Orpheus (Cy Twombly’s), 2012. In this way, the Cy Twombly works were presented in continuous dialogue with recorded and live musical responses, situating sound as both an interpretive lens and an extension of Twombly’s practice. Rather than functioning as accompaniment, music operated as a parallel register through which Twombly’s engagement with mythology, poetry, and literature could be perceived through duration, rhythm, and resonance.

The Foundation’s space was activated by a program of live performances, video projections, and recorded music that unfolded over the course of the exhibition. These interventions emphasized translation and reinterpretation rather than illustration, inviting audiences to encounter Twombly’s work through sound as well as sight. The project was accompanied by a publication illustrating UN/VEILED, including an essay by Eleonora Di Erasmo.

The English version of the essay can also be accessed through Gagosian Quarterly.

Taken together, UN/VEILED articulated music as a sustained and generative presence within Twombly’s artistic imagination, framing listening as a mode of attention parallel to reading and looking.

Concerts and Performances

20 May / 21 May 2022
Eraldo Bernocchi and Nils Petter Molvær
The Space Between

with live video projections by Petulia Mattioli
(Elogio dei chiaroscuri e del tempo sospeso. Un fluire percettivo per incontrare se stessi tra l’ombra, la luce, il buio)

27 May / 28 May 2022
Isabella Summers
To Neptune, Ruler of the Seas Profound
(curated by Tatiana Cheneviere)

10 June / 11 June 2022
Concerts Pierre Henry

Symphonie pour un homme seul (1950)
Le Voile d’Orphée (1953)

Directed by Nicolas Vérin, on the loudspeaker orchestra of Studio Son/Ré

Additional Sound and Video Works

Harold Budd
Selected recorded tracks, including Mars and the Artist (after Cy Twombly) (2011) and Veil of Orpheus (Cy Twombly’s) (2012), presented as piped music throughout the exhibition.

Devendra Banhart and Sudan Archives
Video performance documentation, presented courtesy of The Broad Museum, Los Angeles, and the artists.

For further information:
Fondazione Nicola Del Roscio, Rome
fondazionenicoladelroscio.it