ROME. The Collegio Romano stages the plastic representation of the new (right-wing) power of Italian culture. For the first time the minister posed together for the photographers Gennaro Sangiuliano with the new president of the Venice Biennale Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, that of Maxxi Alessandro Giuli and the owner of the Quadrennial Luca Beatrice. Also in the audience was Angelo Crespi, projected by the Maga of Gallarate to be the director of the upcoming Grande Brera. And it’s all kisses, hugs and pats on the back, smiles with very wide teeth. The occasion is the presentation of the next Italian Pavilion of the Art Biennale, in Venice from 20 April to 24 November. Commissioner Angelo Piero Cappello, in his introductory speech, to avoid mistakes, nominates Gabriele D’Annunzio.
The minister relaunches with his beloved Giuseppe Prezzolini. The twists and turns in the baggage of quotes are not expected. In the preambles, best wishes are for Buttafuoco who has to deal with the first tile: the Art Not Genocide Alliance petition which collects thousands of signatures to boycott Israel’s participation in the International Art Exhibition with its Pavilion. The Russian scenario of two years ago is repeated, after the attack on Ukraine, with the danger of censoring culture once again.
Biennial, call to boycott Israel. Minister Sangiuliano: “Unacceptable, the exhibition is a space of freedom”
edited by the Cultura editorial team
«Israel not only has the right to express its art – replies Sangiuliano – but it has the duty to bear witness to its people precisely at a moment like this in which they have been hit hard by merciless terrorists».
The political context risks overshadowing art, which, instead, tends to fly high compared to controversies. Although some allude to “purely national elements”, there is no trace of cultural autarky in the project presented by the curator Luca Cerizza (born 1969) with the artist Massimo Bartolini (1962). The title Due qui / To Hear plays with assonances: “Due qui” does not become “Two here”, but “To Hear” and refers to listening. This time he will cross the Italian Pavilion at the Arsenale in its naked and monumental architecture, “feeling” rather than “seeing”. Bartolini builds jam sessions, sound installations resulting from meetings with others: the great British musician Gavin Bryars and his son Yuri, but also the composers Caterina Barbieri and the American Kali Malone. Baroque music will inspire part of the context. It will not be a linear route: it can be accessed from the garden or from one of the tents.
«There will not be a museumisation of the space – says Cerizza – all the works will be built on site with materials that can be reused for other purposes. Sustainability is a goal. And listening is a starting point: listening to oneself, to others, to the landscape.” The only iconography on display is the bronze cross-legged Bodhisattva modeled by Bartolini. «The Buddha is the only figure present – specifies the artist – The figure of an enlightened person who, having reached enlightenment, renounces it to point it out to other men. His story is entirely internal and cannot be resolved in an action. I would like him to remain silent for five minutes upon entering the Pavilion. This project gives supremacy to the listening, rather than the “visual”. The visual is dialectical, it always excludes a part. Dialectics has brought us this far. Instead, listening embraces everything around you. Now we need to start again from this.”
The Italian Pavilion starts again with an 800 thousand euro budget, a contribution from the Directorate General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture, to which is added more than 400 thousand euros from sponsors: Tod’s and Banca Ifis. Diego Della Valle relaunches: «The ministry should become an investment bank for cultural needs. I would ask purists not to be shocked if the business world gets close to monuments.”
Sangiuliano nods and closes: «Buttafuoco and I are two Mediterraneans. In our area there have been Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Angevins… Everyone has left us something: Prezzolini says that Italians must live up to their past.” Then he gets up and goes to Buttafuoco. «How did you like my speech?».
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– 2024-04-04 01:30:16
