Sport. Challenging the body
On the occasion of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, the Mart presents "Sport. Le sfide del corpo".
Eight thematic sections that celebrate the most extraordinary dimension of the human body.
The Mart in Rovereto presents “Sport. Le sfide del corpo” (Challenging the Body), an exhibition curated by Antonio Calbi, Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Paris, and Daniela Ferrari, Mart curator.
If sport is the mass phenomenon par excellence, art has undoubtedly contributed to shaping the iconography of its myth. From the “Discobolus” to contemporary icons, the exhibition highlights how the representation of the body in athletic performance has given rise to heroes and heroines, whether classical athletes and wrestlers, such as those portrayed in the photographs of Mimmo Jodice or in the sculptures of Giulio Paolini, or modern figures like the dancer Carla Fracci or the athletes of the U.S. Olympic Team captured through the lens of Fabrizio Ferri. In this sense, some objects owned or used by athletes become legendary memorabilia that are also featured in the exhibition.
From a contemporary perspective, the exhibition suggests that the body is not only a tool for breaking records or delivering extraordinary performances. Competition involves both physical and emotional tensions, as well as contrasts between perfection and failure, achievement and limitation. Before the result, sport is effort, pain, and discipline. Athletic competition encompasses victory as much as failure and defeat; the superhuman always contains the human.
The exhibition is part of the broader cultural project “Combinazioni_caratteri sportivi”, conceived and promoted by the Department of Culture of the Autonomous Province of Trento to connect museums across the region around a shared theme. Supported by Radio Monte Carlo as Media Partner.
