Alex Margo Arden: Safety Curtain at Auto Italia

Auto Italia presents Safety Curtain, a solo exhibition by Alex Margo Arden that examines the impact of activist interventions on artworks and cultural institutions. Spanning painting, sculpture, photography, and installation, the exhibition reflects on climate protests targeting museums and galleries, linking them to historical acts of defacement—from suffragette attacks in the early 20th century to student-led destruction of plaster casts in the 1960s.

Arden, known for exploring crime, punishment, and theatrical staging in cultural contexts, investigates the material and political traces left by these actions. She reinterprets protest-damaged artworks in a new series of paintings, preserving their altered states. Works like Scene [29 May 2022; Louvre, Paris] (2024) and Scene [14 October 2022; National Gallery, London] (2024) embed the aftermath of direct action into their compositions.

Other highlights include Barricade (2024), a series of photographs of Arden’s painted backdrops installed in empty theatres, and Cancelled Performance (2025), an installation referencing a disrupted Les Misérables show in London. Backstage Campaign (2025), a sculptural work made from repurposed art-handling crates, reveals the hidden infrastructure behind museum conservation.

Commissioned by Auto Italia with support from Arts Council England and The Henry Moore Foundation, Safety Curtain explores the tensions between protest, preservation, and power within the art world.