Los Angeles exhibition links Sardinia’s ancient monuments to embodied cultural heritage

A Los Angeles exhibition opening Aug. 15 at YA! brings together contemporary art, archaeology, and U.S.–Italy cultural exchange through work on Sardinia’s Nuraghe Piscu. The project also launches a new arts fund and a research phase in Italy focused on how lived experience can reshape public engagement with ancient sites.

Why it matters: - The exhibition frames archaeology as a living experience, not just an academic subject or static relic. - The project connects contemporary art with cultural heritage research at a moment when digital life is changing how people relate to place, memory, and one another. - The opening also launches the Living Body Arts Fund and a scholarship effort aimed at widening access to interdisciplinary arts programming.

What happened: - "Between Earth and Sky: Nuraghe Piscu, Sardinia" opens Aug. 15 and runs through Sept. 6, 2026, at YA!, an independent interdisciplinary arts space in Los Angeles. - The exhibition is the centerpiece of a growing U.S.–Italy cultural exchange. - Los Angeles interdisciplinary artist Elizabeth Yochim created the project with Italian photographer Domenico Cortese. - The work explores Nuraghe Piscu, a Bronze Age stone monument in Sardinia, through photography, live performance, projected imagery, sound, and storytelling. - The opening reception is Saturday, Aug. 15, from 7:30–9:30 p.m. - A live multimedia performance begins at 8:30 p.m.

The details: - The exhibition uses multiple media to present the Sardinian archaeological landscape as a place where memory, landscape, and human experience meet. - Cortese said the photographs came from the encounter between the Sardinian landscape, Yochim’s performance, and his own gaze. - Cortese said he was not trying to document a ritual, but to reveal the relationship between body, place, and memory. - The exhibition was designed to create what Cortese described as a threshold where the ancient landscape and the living presence of the artist converge. - Yochim said the project asks what becomes possible when people experience ancient places with their whole bodies and as living landscapes. - The exhibition opens at 3379 Robertson Place, Los Angeles, CA 90034. - For interviews, images, or additional information, Yochim can be reached at ey@elizabethyochim.com. - More information is available at YA! project space.

Between the lines: - The project pushes back against a museum-style view of archaeology by tying ancient sites to movement, participation, and direct experience. - The collaboration also suggests a growing model for cultural exchange that blends artistic production with field research and public engagement. - The launch of a scholarship fund signals an effort to turn the exhibition into infrastructure, not just a one-off show. - Kate McCallum, executive director of the Center for Conscious Creativity, said innovation and technology are most transformative when grounded in presence, participation, and relationships with the living world.

What's next: - Yochim will continue research in Italy this fall with IRIDIS, the Institute for Research on Innovation, International Law and Sustainability. - She will also work with the EMPATHS initiative at the Archaeological Park of the Phlegraean Fields near Naples. - That research will focus on how contemporary artistic practice can deepen public engagement with archaeological sites through movement, participation, and direct experience. - Proceeds from the opening performance will help establish the Living Body Arts Scholarship. - The Living Body Arts Fund is fiscally sponsored by the Center for Conscious Creativity.

The bottom line: - The exhibition uses art and performance to argue that ancient places can still shape modern identity, memory, and what it means to be human.