edited by Angela Bruno
Friday 10 May
Exhibition-performance pays homage to Guernica at Palazzo Reale
An exhibition-performance pays homage to Guernica at Palazzo Reale. Right here in 1953 the great work was exhibited for the first time in Italy, coming from the MoMA in New York, where it had been kept since 1939. The operation took place at the behest of Picasso himself who found it in the Hall of Caryatids still marked by bombing its natural setting. After 70 years, to celebrate that moment that marked the history of Italian art, the artist Ercole Pignatelli reinterprets Guernica in a performative key by painting a canvas of the same size over the course of twelve days, with his now famous gestural painting. The intervention remotely conveys the emotions and reflections that the masterpiece aroused in the artist when he was still eighteen, filtered through the experience and skillful hand of his 88 years. The exhibition is free to enter from 10am to 7.30pm.
Arturo Brachetti in ‘Solo, the Legend of quick-change’ at the Arcimboldi
Arturo Brachetti returns to the Teatro Arcimboldi, at 9pm in viale dell’Innovazione 20, with “Solo, the Legend of quick change”, a one man show by someone who, rightly or wrongly, is considered one of the greatest transformers on an international level and who reaches its seventh edition, after more than 720,000 spectators, 600 performances, 140 theaters visited in Italy and Europe, around 12,000 photos with the audience after the show and countless sold outs and standing ovations. In “Solo” the protagonist is transformism, the art that has made him famous throughout the world and which reigns supreme here with over 65 characters, many designed specifically for the performance, who appear in a fast-paced and engaging rhythm. But Brachetti also offers his classics such as Chinese shadows, mime and chapeaugraphie, the art of handling a simple perforated felt cloth to transform it into countless hats,
Saturday May 11th
‘The Merchant of Venice’ with Franco Branciaroli at the Manzoni Theatre
With its powerful universal themes, “The Merchant of Venice” by William Shakespeare – performed for the first time in London in 1598 – poses to the contemporary public questions of absolute necessity: ethical clashes, never-pacified social and interreligious relationships, love, hatred, the value of friendship and loyalty, greed and the role of money. It is a fundamental text that the Teatro Stabile del Friuli Venezia Giulia together with the Centro Teatrale Bresciano and the Teatro de Gli Incamminati produce in a new, refined production designed by Paolo Valerio which arrives at the Teatro Manzoni at 8.45pm: a remarkable company of actors led by Franco Branciaroli, who offers a masterful performance in the role of Shylock, a multifaceted, mysterious figure, cruel in his thirst for revenge, but who shocks the spectators and also arouses their compassion.
Contemporary art, Adrian Piper’s retrospective ‘Race Traitor’ at the Pac
The Pac, the contemporary art pavilion in via Palestro 14, offers, from 10am to 7.30pm,
the “Race Traitor” exhibition, the first European retrospective in over 20 years dedicated to Adrian Piper (1948, New York). The exhibition brings together over one hundred works including installations, videos, photographs, paintings and drawings from which emerges the analysis of the “visual pathology” of racism and the image of African-American people determined by society and the many widespread stereotypes. A targeted investigation on the particular themes of “race” and gender, contextualized by the formal practices of minimal and conceptual art that Piper’s early production brought towards these themes, and which the artist now considers as a weapon to double-edged: his approach to fighting American racism is also part of the process of freeing himself from the sick grip of “race”.
Sunday 12 May
‘Old Books in Piazza Diaz’, culture for everyone on the stalls
Every second Sunday of the month, excluding August, under the porticoes of Piazza Diaz, a stone’s throw from the Duomo, from 9am to 5pm culture is available to everyone on the stalls. “Vecchi Libri in Piazza Diaz” is the exhibition-market of ancient, used and collectible books,
The route of the event winds along the southern porticoes of Piazza del Duomo, those of Piazza Diaz as mentioned, of Via Baracchini and Via Gonzaga. The best time to visit the exhibition is in the morning: some exhibitors, coming from regions other than Lombardy, do not always guarantee their stay until the end. The market exhibition is also held in case of bad weather so you can do without worrying about rain and entry is free. It is a paradise of ancient and unobtainable books, vintage postcards and prints offered by over one hundred selected exhibitors from Italy and abroad. The fair, founded in 1995, offers books from a few euros to valuable volumes.
