“The Historical Core is composed of 20th century works from Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Arab world. Much has been written about global modernisms and those of the South of the world, which is why works from these territories will be exhibited in some rooms, as if to constitute a sort of essay, a draft, a hypothetical curatorial experiment aimed at questioning the boundaries and definitions of Modernism. We know all too well the history of Modernism in Euroamerica, but the modernisms of the Global South remain largely unknown. […]. European Modernism itself traveled well beyond Europe during the twentieth century, often intertwined with colonialism, just as many artists from the Global South traveled to Europe to exhibit their work. […]».
The Historical Core predicts three rooms in the Central Pavilion: the room entitled Portraitsthe room dedicated to Abstractions and a third room dedicated to Italian artistic diaspora in the world during the 20th century.
«The two rooms that host the Portraits will include the works of 112 artistsmostly paintings, but also works on paper and sculptures, covering an inclusive period of time between 1905 and 1990. […] The theme relating to the human figure will be explored in countless different ways by artists from the global South, reflecting on the crisis of the representation of the human that has characterized much of 20th century art. In the South of the world, numerous artists have come into contact with European Modernism through travel, studies or books, while bringing very personal and powerful reflections and contributions to their works […]. The room dedicated to Abstractions will include 37 artists: almost all of them will be exhibited together for the first time in unexpected juxtapositions, thus hoping for new connections, associations and parallels that go well beyond the rather simple categories that I have proposed. […]».
Among others, this section includes artists from Korea and Singapore, who in the past were part of the so-called Third World, or indigenous Maori artists of historical relevance such as Selwyn Wilson and Sandy Adsett, from Aotearoa/New Zealand. «[…]
A third room of Historical Core will be dedicated to diaspora of Italian artists who have traveled and moved abroad, integrating into local cultures and building their careers in Africa, Asia, Latin America as well as the rest of Europe and the United States; artists who often played a significant role in the development of Modernism narratives outside of Italy. In this room the works of 40 first or second generation Italian authorsplaced in the glass and concrete easel displays of Lina Bo Bardi (Italian who moved to Brazil, winner of the special Golden Lion in memory of the 2021 Architecture Biennale)».
«During the research – he underlines Pedrosa – two different but related elements emerged in a rather organic way and were developed to the point of establishing themselves as the leitmotif of the entire exhibition. The first is the textileexplored by many artists involved, starting with key figures in the Historical Coreup to many authors present in the Contemporary Core. […] Such works reveal an interest in craftsmanship, tradition and the handmade, as well as in techniques that, in the broader field of fine art, have sometimes been considered other or foreign, foreign or strange. […] A second element is represented by artists – many of them indigenous – linked by blood ties. […] Also in this case tradition plays an important role: the transmission of knowledge and practices from father or mother to son or daughter or between brothers and relatives.”
Tags: Biennale Arte Biennale Arte Foreigners
