On Saturday 4 October 2025, at 11am, the contemporary art event exhibition Domestic Archaeology, curated by Daniela Beltrani, will open.

Domestic Archaeology is a physical and poetic exploration of hidden and abandoned spaces, a journey into intimacy, memory, and the images that shape our life experience and the place that is the daily starting and returning point of that life: the home.

The site-specific installation was created and set up in the cellar of the building, typically a dark and secret space, as described by Gaston Bachelard in his Poetics of Space:
“To descend into the cellar means to dream, to lose oneself in the distant corridors of uncertain etymology, to seek, in the very words, unattainable treasures.” (The Poetics of Space, 1975, p. 179)

The cellar, beyond containing the work, is an integral part of it through its emptiness, fullness, the air, the stones, the reeds in the vaulted ceiling, the smells, the nails, and all the handcrafted metal forms that tell stories yet to be revealed.

The installation gathers objects recovered from inside the house, small and large treasures that tell stories of lost lives and hold deep emotions, even the less comforting ones. It becomes a portal to the hidden recesses of our unconscious.

Bachelard emphasises: “In our civilisation that brings light everywhere, that puts electricity in the cellar, it is no longer possible to go down into the cellar holding a candlestick in hand. The unconscious, however, is not subject to any process of civilisation; it takes the candlestick to descend into the underground.”

Domestic Archaeology is part of the 21st AMACI Contemporary Day, the contemporary art event that, on Saturday 4 October 2025, opens museums, galleries, and cultural spaces across Italy for free, promoting projects of inclusion and cultural participation.

We invite the public to visit this exhibition that creates an intense dialogue between past and present, everyday life and creativity, offering an intimate and original view on the domestic and artistic meaning of space, encouraging active participation and the sharing of memories and stories linked to this house that has welcomed countless lives over the years.

The exhibition will be open at KEPOS, Via Santa Maria in Castello 11, on Saturday 4 October 4 from 11am to 6pm with free admission.

Daniela Beltrani explains: “I named the building where I live, work, and welcome others, KEPOS, which in Greek means ‘garden,’ and it was also the name of the community and school founded by Epicurus in his property outside Athens. KEPOS, one-hour drive from Rome, is not only a refuge for me and my family, but also a studio and a space open to friends, artist residencies, and cultural initiatives. It is a metaphysical garden because there is no real garden, yet KEPOS welcomes and nourishes the spirit according to a perspective of Senecan otium.”