All the arts represent the background of man’s life. History is retraced through artworks that become the litmus paper of civilization. Terna’s initiative is a path for pursuing this objective and increasing an awareness of our artistic heritage.
How was collaboration established with AMACI and which prospects can this network open?
In Italy a specific association did not exist that was entirely focused on modern and contemporary art issues. The need was to find a place, an institutional point of reference so that modern and contemporary art museums that have sprung over the last 20 years could find a meeting point for various different types of organization, management and scientific exchanges. The AMACI idea was created from a need at the very basis. In only a few years a lot has been accomplished: we have consolidated the network of relations among the 26 Italian bodies belonging to this association, also involving large and small museums, we have published our own magazine that focuses on various topics and a guide that joins us all and presents us, curated by Ludovico Pratesi. Then we organized the Contemporary Art Day which each year has been very successful: a day where we highlight the importance of contemporary art for a country that intends to grow. We believe that innovation can also be promoted through the creativity of contemporary artists. Through our association, we intend to spread as widely as possible the concept of contemporary art, namely, the need to live our times. In order to provide concrete answers to concrete problems, we have established specific working groups for areas such as management of administration and communication, joining expertise.
An ambitious project such as creating a museum, particularly in a reality like ours, faces various obstacles. Which were and still are the principal difficulties you had to face?
The greatest difficulty, at least at the beginning, was that of obtaining consent on a project that concerned contemporary art. In our country many different creative languages are spoken, but not contemporary ones. The sense of the present is not lived within a creative concept. Fashion and design speak the contemporary language, but not the arts. Particularly in peripheral urban contexts, important initiatives connected to this great message of the future have never been present. The second difficulty was that of conceiving a museum with a European scope, a connection between north and south. Our community initially had a difficult time in grasping this “off-scale dimension”. Today, on the basis of recent data, 7 years from the opening of the museum, consensus has greatly increased in the 25-45 year old category. Many define the MART as pure innovation and we have successfully met the challenges represented by the difficulties of the situation. Nonetheless, we still have a long road ahead of us.
Which projects are you presently working on ?
Our projects are oriented towards the line of activities that MART has developed since its opening. First of all, large events having transversal characteristics, also representing an important trend that strongly attracts the public. We wish to show people that art is a discipline that crosses over with many others, both artistic ones and technical-scientific ones. A sort of “passpartout” for opening all the doors of our knowledge. In February we will present a large exhibit on the relationship between art and theatre in the 1800’s. This exhibit will then travel to Marseilles and Toronto. It will be followed by an exhibit on American art between the 1910-1950 period, still unexplored in Italy, and an exhibit devoted to Mario Botta and his 50 years of professional activity. Lastly, we will work on the “conceptual” themes of the Panza collection as part of a large project devoted to the 1960’s, never yet presented in Europe. An important event also because is part of the Panza collection hadn’t been displayed for years. In the fall, we will also organize an exhibit on futurism to be held in Berlin at the Martin Gropius Bau. Works will be displayed from the major representatives of post-Boccioni futurism from Giacomo Balla to Gino Severini, from Ardengo Soffici to Fortunato Depero, from Enrico Prampolini to Tullio Crali and Ernesto Thayaht.
The Terna Prize 02 intends to join the best corporate practices with cultural ones favouring a reflection on the need to responsibly looking ahead to the planet’s future focusing on the environment and energy. Do you think this objective is attainable and is art today still capable of promoting a greater critical awareness?
Absolutely, yes. An example of this is my recent book, a book on the architecture of the new millennium underlining a change in trend. Already today, when architecturally planning a museum, one does not think about the fashion and surprise of it, but of an eco-sustainable development. I believe that the Terna Prize is a very important initiative that demonstrates the capability of many to see contemporary art as the motor of innovation and change. I feel this is because all arts represent the backdrop to man’s life, both publicly and privately. History is retraced through art that becomes the litmus test of our civilization. Terna’s initiative is a way for pursuing this path and increasing an awareness of our artistic heritage.
MART – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto
Founded in 1987, the MART presently operates in three exhibition areas: in Trento at the Palazzo delle Albere it hosts collections from the 19th century while in Rovereto it is located at both the Casa d’Arte Futurista devoted to the works of Fortunato Depero and at the large museum designed by Mario Botta and inaugurated in 2002, representing the Mart’s principal location. Since the beginning, the MART focused its strategy on research activities and the Archive of the 1900’s and the Art Library are based on this principle; they host 80,000 documents and 60,000 volumes in the basement area. The rich permanent collection includes more than 20,000 works and masterpieces from the Futurism, with artists such as Balla, Carrà, Severini; from Metaphysics and classicism, with De Chirico, Morandi, Sironi, Campigli; from the 1900’s ranging from abstract art to post World War II with Fontana, Burri, Manzoni, Vedova. The artworks have grown through important private collections and presently they include significant works devoted to conceptual art, the people’s art, minimalist and pop art with Johns, Rauschenberg and Warhol, together with artworks by Beuys, Nauman, Rainer, Kiefer, up to the younger generations.
2009-10-05
