The book festival that urges civic commitment against organized crime this year will exhibit works seized from well-known mafiosi-collectors.
Lamezia Terme – La Trame Foundation And MetaMorfosi Associationwith the patronage of the Ministry of the Interior and the support of the CDP Foundation, a non-profit organization of the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti Group as part of the first edition of the Cultural Ecosystems call, present Civic Visions – Art returned. From the works confiscated from the mafias to the common good an unprecedented exhibition project curated by the professor Lorenzo Canova which, from 18 June to 28 July, will be on display in Monumental Complex of San Domenico Of Lamezia Terme, home of the Lametino Archaeological Museum, a selection of works of art seized from organized crime. The occasion for the presentation of the exhibition, in a symbolic alignment of themes and objectives, is Festival of books on mafias Tramewhich since 2011 has welcomed over 10 thousand visitors every year, characterizing itself as an event with a strong cultural appeal on the national territory.
The exhibition, which will be inaugurated at the same time as the thirteenth edition of the event tomorrow, June 18, at 6 pm, includes the exhibition of a wide selection of works of art, the result of seizures from some criminal organizations active in Italy, currently in the possession of the Confiscated Assets Agency and the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria, some of which are not usable. «This project – explains Lorenzo Canova, curator of the exhibition – was not born as a traditional exhibition, but as a sign based on the symbolic strength of the visual arts, a space of legality and civic sharing born from two nuclei of works of art confiscated from the mafias : that of Gioacchino Campolo and that of Gennaro Mokbel.”
On display, in fact, are the works seized from the “king of video poker” known mafia boss Gioacchino Campolo, exhibited at the Palazzo Crupi in Reggio Calabria, and those seized from Gennaro Mokbel, a financier close to the Banda della Magliana, in 2010, never exhibited until now. Among the forty works on display are those of some of the greatest masters of the twentieth century including Giorgio De Chirico, Antonio Ligabue, Paul Kostabi, Michele Cascella, Michele Cassinari, Cesare Berlingeri, Massimo Catalani, Luca Dall’Olio, Marco Lodola, Max Marra, Paolo Porelli, Pietro Annigoni, Franz Borghese and Bruno Caruso. The exhibition remains open until July 38th.
Criminals – the exhibition suggests – had a weakness for art and were rarely able to resist the temptation to add a prized piece to private collections. The exhibition itinerary thus includes a series of works that also tell us about the personal taste of mafiosi-collectors or their desire to accumulate art by established artists or emerging authors, unique works or print runs of graphics, moving from painting to sculpture, up to installation or multi-material works. A path composed of forty-four works which fits strongly into the fervent context of a festival with great civil value like Trame. «It is interesting to note how, in the confiscations, there are not only works by important masters of Italian and international art between the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, but also fake paintings such as the one on display in the exhibition, which seeks to counterfeit a painting by Giorgio Morandi – adds the curator. – A paradoxical document that makes us understand how even criminals can, in all likelihood, be victims of a scam.”
«The aim of the exhibition – he explains Nuccio Iovenepresident of Trame ETS Foundation – is, at a time when the perception of the dangerousness of the mafias seems to have decreased, to maintain high attention on them and their activities, to give them a real representation, also with regard to their ability to get their hands on business and in seemingly distant sectors, such as the art market, and to diversify their investments by laundering illicit proceeds through them as well. An exhibition that would not have been possible without the decisive support of the CDP Foundation – which, through last year’s Cultural Ecosystems call, selected our project – and without the attention and support of the Hon. Wanda Ferroundersecretary to Ministry of the Interior with responsibility for Confiscated Assetsof the director ofNational Agency for the administration and destination of assets seized and confiscated from organized crimethe Prefect Bruno Cordaand the Mayor of Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria, Giuseppe Falcomatà, which made half of the works on display available. And thanks also to the sensitivity and availability of the Director of the splendid Lamezzo Archaeological Museumthe doctor Simona Bruniwho made herself available to host her, and the doctor Daniela Vinci from the Superintendency of Reggio Calabria».
«MetaMorphosis – he explains Pietro Folena, president of the association that produced and organized the exhibition in partnership with Fondazione Trame – with this exhibition he achieves the most significant objective of a long journey: to combine the production of classic and contemporary exhibitions with a civic vocation, identifying exhibitions and dissemination of art and culture an extraordinary lever against illegality, crime, mafias and every form of abuse and arrogance. After having just produced, for the first edition of the Social Anti-Mafia Festival at the Federico II University of Naples, the video and the exhibition Poverty, old and new slavery in artwe are now participating with great pride in Lamezia Terme in a project that has the aim of returning works acquired through malfeasance to the community, hoping to open a new season that puts art and culture at the center to combat crime and illegality ».
For information: www.tramefestival.it
