GIUSEPPE STAMPONE A CASTEL SANT’ELMO, NAPOLI

February 15, 2018 | NEWS | Share

On Saturday 10 February at 12.00pm, the Ambulatories of Castel Sant’Elmo will play host to the inauguration of Evidence. A New State of Art, an exhibition curated by Alessandro Demma and Su Peng. The works of 16 Italian artists and 16 Chinese artists – the fruits of entirely independent expression, reflection and experimentation – will encapsulate different worlds and visions through the production of forms created over the course of around 50 years.

An interweaving of languages, techniques, signs and symbols –encompassing drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, video and installation – reproduces the multifarious, heterogeneous universe of contemporary art. The short, but nevertheless effective, summation of Chinese and Italian contemporary art – through the comparing and contrasting of different generations – constitutes one of the main strengths of the exhibition.

The exhibition project uses a format that has been widely tried-and-tested by the Garuzzo Institute for the Visual Arts (IGAV) over the course of the 12 years since the institute was first set up. The format is based on the sharing of responsibility for the project between two curators, one Italian and one Chinese, with the selection of an equal number of artists linked by their artistic and/or generational affinities. The exhibition is being staged in both countries, in order to take full advantage of the added value of international visibility and promotion. Indeed, promotion is a crucial element of the work of the Garuzzo Institute, which has now developed partnerships and implemented exchanges with public- and private-sector institutions in a total of 12 countries around the world.

Artists whose work appears in the exhibition
Italian artists: Michelangelo Pistoletto, Giulio Paolini, Luigi Mainolfi, Marisa Albanese, Eugenio Giliberti, Pierluigi Pusole, Botto & Bruno, Alberto Di Fabio, Adrian Tranquilli, Paolo Grassino, Marzia Migliora, Perino & Vele, Giuseppe Stampone, Domenico Antonio Mancini, Elisa Strinna, Fabrizio Cotognini.

Chinese artists: Liang Quan, Ma Kelu, Duan Zhengqu, Zhan Wang, Wang Shuye, Chen Qiuzhi, Yin Chaoyang, Ye Jianqing, Li Hui, Liu Bolin, Yang Xinguang, Lu Song, Qi Lei, Liu Cong, Li Yan, Yu Linhan.

Polo Museale della Campania – Castel Sant’Elmo

The Polo Museale della Campania (Campania Museum Hub), directed by Anna Imponente, is a system of 26 sites – art museums, archaeology museums and sites of natural interest – located across the Campania region. The most important work done by the hub is geared towards making the most of the regional artistic heritage and the most recent examples of artistic research, using various methods including the creation of networks with public and private organisations and collaborations with local bodies. The orchestration of contemporary art exhibitions that establish a valuable dialogue with the contexts into which they are inserted can be viewed as the common thread that unites the hub’s various sites. Castel Sant’Elmo is very much the nerve centre, in which are hosted, together with the permanent collection of the Novecento a Napoli (20th-century Naples) Museum, the site-specific installations of the winners of the “Un’Opera per il Castello” competition, which confirms the hub’s focus on the latest artistic tendencies that have emerged over the past decade.

The Garuzzo Institute for the Visual Arts – IGAV

This Turin-based not-for-profit body has been operating since 2005 to raise the profile of Italian artists around the world. It contributes to the promotion of contemporary art by facilitating international cultural exchanges.
It has thus far organised a total of 64 exhibitions across 12 countries (Argentina, Armenia, Chile, China, Croatia, Italy, Jordan, Korea, Russia, Slovakia, the UK and Uruguay), promoted more than 400 artists, assigned 8 international prizes and collaborated with 16 national and international curators and/or artistic directors.

Relations with China

Over the past 12 years, the Garuzzo Institute has created and consolidated a series of significant relationships with China. Specifically, it has signed a 4-year collaboration and exchange agreement with the China Arts and Entertainment Group – CAEG.
IGAV is a member of the Italy–China Forum promoted by Italian government minister Dario Franceschini, which is chaired by the Right Honourable Francesco Rutelli. IGAV was appointed to this role in recognition of its decade-long relationship with China in the contemporary art field.

Evidence. A New State of Art is the 10th exhibition staged in Italy in partnership with the Chinese, while the number staged in China itself now stands at 16.

China Arts and Entertainment Group – CAEG

The CAEG is the leading Chinese state-run body operating in the field of entertainment and the arts, and is answerable to the China State Council and the Chinese Ministries of Culture and Finance. It has established and maintains solid, wide-ranging partnerships with world- renowned cultural institutions, galleries and museums, performing arts companies and individual artists. It has organised and curated major international events including the Chinese Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, the Beijing Arts Festival and the Asian Arts Festival.

Institutional Partners

The Italian Ministry of Culture – Campania Museum Hub; the China Arts and Entertainment Group