Nient'altro che scultura
from 27 July 2008 to 28 September 2008
Carrara
The 13th edition of the Carrara International Sculpture Biennale is organised by the Municipality of Carrara, the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Carrara and Cassa di Risparmio di Carrara Spa, under the High Patronage of the President of the Republic, with the support of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, the Region of Tuscany and the Province of Massa–Carrara, in collaboration with the APT Massa-Carrara and with the participation of the Academy of Fine Arts of Carrara.
The exhibition, entitled Nient’altro che scultura. Nothing but sculpture, has been curated by Francesco Poli and will be open to the public from 27 July to 28 September 2008. The choice of title highlights the specific nature of this event, which began in 1957, and reaffirms the close link between the city and the production of sculpture. The exhibition focuses on the most significant and innovative aspects of sculpture, offering an in-depth reflection and a clearer picture of the current state of this creative sector, through a comparison of young emerging artists with established artists.
The Biennale is organised into several sections.
Four venues host the ‘Homages’ section, dedicated to four great artists: Louise Bourgeois, Mario Merz, Giulio Paolini and Pietro Cascella, whose works are excellent examples of different approaches to sculpture.
In Padula Park, four large marble sculptures, Eye-benches, by Louise Bourgeois—the American sculptor of French origin, now almost a centenarian, one of the greatest living artists and a true icon of international feminist culture—are on display.
As a tribute to Mario Merz, the Church of the Suffragio is hosting a revival, some forty years on, of the historic installation Igloo, which the artist had presented in a deconsecrated church in Milan in 1972.
The tribute to Giulio Paolini, in the Accademia’s Aula Magna, is linked to the specific characteristics of the space: the hall is in fact filled with a group of casts of classical statues. This means that the artist’s intervention creates a metaphysical tension, a dialogue with the context, triggering a complex aesthetic reflection between past and present.
The tribute to Pietro Cascella, a master stone sculptor who passed away recently, is in the Accademia’s so-called Sala dei Marmi: the space houses a series of original plaster sketches of major monumental works.
Three sections are housed at the Centre for International and Contemporary Plastic Arts.
The first, The Contemporary Power of Marble, is a recognition of the artistic importance of marble, of which the quarries of Carrara are the world’s leading producers; but also an examination of how today it (and, more generally, stone materials) is once again considered a sculptural medium with expressive qualities, even within the most innovative research of many leading artists. The exhibition features works by the following artists: Giovanni Anselmo, Davide Bertocchi, Domenico Borrelli, Louise Bourgeois, Gianni Caravaggio, Jessica Carroll, David Casini, Giacinto Cerone, Mat Collishaw, Gianni Colosimo, Tony Cragg, Lara Favaretto, Flavio Favelli, Marco Gastini, Richard Long, Luigi Mainolfi, Aldo Mondino, Hidetoshi Nagasawa, Nunzio, Giuseppe Penone, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Leonardo Pivi, Marc Quinn, Mario Rizzi, Remo Salvadori, Fabio Viale, Y Zhou, Gilberto Zorio and Italo Zuffi.
In Le Nuove statue, on the other hand, a significant and relevant aspect of sculpture is explored: the renewed interest in the representation of human figures (mostly life-size, but also in large or miniature formats), in both realistic and hyper-realistic forms, as well as deformations and elaborations of the body of every kind. These statues or human (and animal) simulacra are made not only from traditional materials (bronze, marble, wood, plaster, papier-mâché), but above all from synthetic materials (fibreglass, latex, silicone, artificial wax). The most commonly used technique is life casting, and the figures, whether nude or clothed (sometimes in real clothing), are frequently staged in striking installations.
The exhibition features works by the following artists: Maddalena Ambrosio, Stephan Balkenhol, Nicola Bolla, Paolo Chiasera, Marco Del Re, Jan Fabre, Daniel Glaser & Magdalena Kunz, Anthony Gormley, Trevor Gould, Paolo Grassino, Robert Gligorov, Thomas Hirschhorn, Martin Honert, Shirazeh Houshiary, Myriam Laplante, Luigi Mainolfi, Marzia Migliora, Aldo Mondino, Beatrice Pasquali, Perino & Vele, Lucio Perone, Luisa Rabbia, Maurizio Rabino, Juliao Sarmento, Paolo Schmidlin, Thomas Schütte, Diego Scroppo, Kiki Smith, Pia Stadtbäumer, Luigi Stoisa, Jan Van Oost.
The third section hosted at the museum, entitled Sculpture as a Living Body, is more concise and is dedicated to a number of important video works, in which the artist uses the vital and plastic tension of their own body (and also that of others) as a primary means of expression.
Works by the following artists are on display: Marina Abramovic, John Coplans, Regina José Galindo, Joan Jonas, Paul McCarthy, Tony Oursler, Ene Liis Semper.
The In the City section, in the ancient Cathedral of Sant’Andrea and on Via del Plebiscito, a historic street in Carrara, is the main route of outdoor works. This section explores the relationship between sculptural works and urban space, presenting proposals that go beyond the traditional concept of outdoor sculpture. To this end, works have been deliberately selected that are highly diverse in terms of materials, technical and formal execution, spatial placement criteria, and aesthetic and cultural concepts and intentions.
Works by the following artists are featured: Salvatore Astore, Botto & Bruno, Sergio Cervietti, Riccardo Galleni, Giacomo Manzù, Luciano Massari, Eliseo Mattiacci, Matteo Peducci & Mattia Savini, Saverio Todaro, Filippo Tincolini, Jelena Vassiliev, Luca Vitone.
The workshop circuit
The fifteen main workshops in the Carrara area (Nicoli, SGF, Statuaria Arte, Studi Telara, M.E.C.I. srl, Devoti 3D, AMA, Corsanini, Pedrini, Poletti e Ghio, Costa, Monfroni, Felici, Barattini, Studi d’arte Cave Michelangelo, Torart) are open to the public, who will be able to admire the works of sculptors who have worked or are currently working at these locations. For the occasion, guided tours are being organised via a shuttle bus.
The Padula Park
In addition to the sculptures by Louise Bourgeois, visitors can view the permanent installations created in previous years by Sol LeWitt, Mario Merz, Anne and Patrick Poirier, Luigi Mainolfi, Claudio Parmiggiani, Robert Morris, Dani Karavan and Ian Hamilton Finlay.
Sculpting Time
The Academy of Fine Arts is exhibiting works by young artists from some of Europe’s leading art academies.
Museum of Marble
To mark the Biennale, the Marble Museum has been refurbished (with a new multimedia section) to ensure it forms an integral part of the exhibition itinerary, showcasing its documentary and artistic heritage to the full.
Opening: 26 July 2008 from 5.30 pm onwards
27 July – 28 September 2008
Venues
Centre for International and Contemporary Plastic Arts, Via Canal di Rio; Academy of Fine Arts of Carrara, Via Roma 1; Church of the Suffragio, Via del Plebiscito; Cathedral of Sant’Andrea; Sculpture Workshops; Padula Park; Marble Museum, Viale XX Settembre, near the Stadium
Opere correlate
Nessuna opera correlata trovata