Contemporary Visions. Italian artists in China, is organized by Shanghai International Culture Association (SICA), IGAV – the Garuzzo Institute for the Visual Arts, SPSI Art Museum, co-organized by Art in the City and is curated by Alessandro Demma. It is a group show that casts the spotlight on some of the most significant experiences of the current crop of Italian artists. The exhibition encompasses a selection of works by a total of 29 artists representing different generations, ranging in age from 25 to 50. The opening is set at 5pm to 8pm on 26 June. The exhibition runs from 26 June to 24 July.
The idea is to stage an “art theatre” with the capacity to present a number of expressions, forms and structures that are typical of the current Italian art scene, which is its own little labyrinthine universe, overflowing with ideas, observations and visions.
The exhibition is very much a reflection on art in this day and age, and it poses a fundamental question: which strategies can artists implement to mark out their individuality, the uniqueness of their message, in a system that gobbles everything up and spits it back out in a never-ending stream? The Contemporary Visions project is an attempt to think through these facets of art and of “making art” today, and is geared specifically towards analysing and highlighting those aspects of present-day Italian art that constitute multi-perceptive spaces for cultural reflection on the contemporary moment.
It all adds up to a dialogue between generations, experiments and incidents, played out through works created by artists who are meditating on the present and on the possibilities afforded by the future of art, capturing and critiquing the history of modern-day society, its principles and its trends, deploying phenomenological perspectives that encompass “experiences on the borderline” between reality and imagination. Contemporary Visions is the physical and conceptual logos where different expressions and experiences of the Italian art system are woven together – a “frame” at once real and ideal in which to come “face-to-face” with a substantial cross-section of Italy’s artistic culture.
Artists on show: Afterall; Maura Banfo; Matteo Basilè; Domenico Borrelli; Botto&Bruno; Stefano Cagol; Gianni Caravaggio; Filippo Centenari; Davide Coltro; Peter Demetz; Rocco Dubbini; Paolo Grassino; Francesco Jodice; Mariangela Levita; Nicus Lucà; Domenico Antonio Mancini; Masbedo; Marzia Migliora; Moio&Sivelli; Marina Paris; Perino&Vele; Giulia Piscitelli; Marco Nereo Rotelli; Rosy Rox; Francesco Sena; Diana Avgusta Stauer; Adrian Tranquilli; Fabio Viale; Ciro Vitale.
Advisory board: Guido Curto; Roberto Lambarelli; Gianluca Marziani; Davide Quadrio.
Conceived as a parallel event to Contemporary Visions, Mi Casa Es Tu Casa, My House is Your House, Artists of Shanghai comment on their city, aims to create and reflect upon the possible links to be found in the works of the Italian and the Chinese participating artists. It is organized by Shanghai International Culture Association (SICA), SPSI Art Museum, co-organized by Art in the City, and curated by Davide Quadrio.
This exhibition sparks from IGAV’s proposal of exploring the public space through the practice of artists living in Shanghai, belonging to different generations and employing a wide spectrum of media. Mi Casa Es Tu Casa features a series of works that the artists have been producing throughout the years as a response to environment and nature – or the lack of it – in Shanghai.
Swaying between reflection and humor, the artworks fill the second floor of the museum inviting the guests to stroll around in the white cube space as they would do in a garden, a concrete garden or either the negation of the natural concept of it. In this space, the artists imagine possible green escapades (Shi Qing and Zhang Enli), play with decoration (Jin Shan and Xiang Liqing), expand the light (Wang Yi) and engage in an ironic game (Yang Zhenzhong), or a poetic one (Zhang Yunyao and Zhou Jie), with the visitors. Or they simply find other ways to escape, as literally trying to jump out of the surrounding environment, pass over it, and to finally free oneself (Tang Dixin).
