Fondazione MACC, in collaboration with Prometeo Gallery Ida Pisani, is pleased to present Dulce bellum inexpertis. War is sweet to those who have never experienced it, a group exhibition that welcomes the works of the artists who have distinguished themselves on the international scene for their research focused on political and social issues. From July 17 to September 25, 2022, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Calasetta (SU) will host the works by Filippo Berta, Zehra Doğan, Regina José Galindo, Edson Luli and Santiago Sierra, in a dialogue with the works from the Alpegiani Collection of Turin.
Can war be fair? Can violence be justified? Erasmus of Rotterdam comments on Vegetius's motto "Dulce bellum inexpertis" by establishing in his Adagia that a fair war simply does not exist and that the true end behind all conflict is profit, or rather the despoliation and the degradation of others' property. Erasmus's thought seems...to flourish again in the reflections of Aimé Césaire, particularly in his Discourse on Colonialism 1950-55, according to whom, behind the hypocritical idea of exporting a false civilization, the West spreads its dark shadow, leaving societies emptied of their essence, cultures and religions overthrown, institutions undermined, lands confiscated, artistic splendors annihilated and extraordinary opportunities suppressed. The recent Russian-Ukrainian conflict, has brought the atrocities of war back to Europe, marking a new shock after World War II and the 20th century experience of totalitarianism. The artists invited to the exhibition recount, each with their own poetics, their engagement with common themes, with conflicts that cross territories, peoples, and communities. Each author offers their own experience and questions without providing absolute answers, but rather shared reflections, hoping for a critical sense that crosses boundaries and regenerates belonging.
With the videos Homo Homini Lupus (2011) and Gente Comune (2021), Filippo Berta draws attention on the social tensions caused by the relationship between individuals, society and nature, through the exaltation of the details that highlight the conflicting archetype of this dialectical condition; whereas Zehra Doğan's paintings show us an "armed" femininity, in defense of political freedom and freedom of speech. The exhibition continues with a series of photographs and videos by Regina José Galindo, whose works explore the ethical implications of social injustice, of gender and race discrimination, and of all the abuses caused by unequal and power-dominated relationships in contemporary society. Edson Luli's installation Life-Death (2021) confronts us with one of the many contradictions of our present: through a conceptual language, where life and death coexist neon-lit, a pile of coal lies on the floor: it still represents the life and death of our ecological and economic system. Finally, Santiago Serra, with the photographic series Burial of Ten Workers (2010) and the sculpture NO, Global tour (2009), reveals to us the perverse networks of power that cause the exploitation and alienation of workers, the unjust distribution of wealth generated by unbridled capitalism and racial discriminations, in a world marked by unidirectional migratory flows valid for all continents, from south to north. Among the artists of the Alpegiani Collection, Rosanna Rossi pours the theme of war into the dramatic Yellow Gloves and Camouflage, a series that she has begun in the early 1990s simultaneously with the war in the former Yugoslavia, which awakened in her the traumas of World War II that the Sardinian artist has experienced firsthand when she was just a child.
Eva Fischer, a Jewish author who escaped genocide, has devoted part of her works, long kept secret, to the theme of the Shoah. Shoes are for Eva poignant portraits of people whose path has been interrupted with rare violence. The same historical conflict has also been experienced by Maria Lai, at that time a young student at the Venice Academy of Fine Arts in Arturo Martini's class; her Roses of 2007, destined to never fade, blossom on the universal Gramscian thought: "The world is big and terrible and complicated. Every action launched on its complexity awakens unexpected echoes" (Antonio Gramsci, 1917). Also inspired by Gramsci is Tonel's important work, constructed by constellations of materials, while Kaszàs Tamàs' essential sculptural work expresses a powerful political message. The exhibition closes with Carol Rama's dramatic Parche, emblem of suffering, discomfort, and abandonment; the matrices, from 1947, describe profound loneliness by bringing the abyss back into the deepest essence of the individual.
“To conceive the museum as a center of production of a territorial cultural ecosystem is a priority for us, along with the value that it can take on if it is inserted in a border context, which embraces, looking beyond the sea, all the countries overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, with their complexities, diversities and also with their common aspects, which speak of cosmopolitanism, a theme dealt with in previous exhibitions and in many in-depth moments organized so far," says Efisio Carbone, Artistic Director of the MACC Foundation and curator of the exhibition. The Community of Calasetta, together with its Administration, looks to Culture, according to Roberto Sinzu - Deputy Mayor and Culture Councillor of the Sulcis municipality - "as a resource for the territory capable of enriching the lives of the citizens and enhancing the tourist offer. On this front, the MACC Foundation exercises its role as an activator of alternative and sustainable economies, contributing to a regeneration process which is necessary for future development.” This is the reason for the collaboration with Prometeo Gallery, the gallery created by Ida Pisani in 2005 in two locations, Milan and Lucca, after a long history as a cultural association. "My project has always stood up as a catalyst of social and political instances of multimedia visual artists. I have thus embarked on a path focused on issues of power and counter-power, creating micro-systems of free expression that are fundamental to addressing politically and socially complex issues that are often silenced. The art to which I aspire, through the exhibitions and the artists that most closely match my project, must therefore serve to open eyes and shake souls from their slumber: it must be ethics combined with aesthetics," declares the gallery owner. The group exhibition is therefore an occasion to reiterate "the importance of collaboration between public and private entities to extend the network of relationships between institutions and the territory," as Maricarla Armeni, president of the MACC Foundation, points out. The event also aims to encourage the exchange of works not only between museums, as the collector Renato Alpegiani, involved in the exhibition project, testifies: "I have always lent works to museums, I have never imagined of owning works locked in crates in warehouses. Works of art are not only the prerogative of those who own them, they live when they are revealed to others. To circulate works I think is also a moral duty towards the artists."
The exhibition has been realized thanks to the contribution of Fondazione Banco di Sardegna.
Entrada actualizada el el 05 jul de 2022
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