Capri, Certosa di San Giacomo, 11 September – 30 October, 2016
“Thought and Matter”: Italian and Argentine art on show in Capri
Contemporary Visions at the Certosa: the 3rd edition of the collective exhibition of contemporary art, conceived and staged by IGAV, Istituto Garuzzo per le Arti Visive with the Polo Museale della Campania. The inauguration of the exhibition, curated by Alessandro Demma and Massimo Scaringella, is scheduled to take place on Saturday, 10 September, at 7.00 pm
For the third year running, IGAV, the Garuzzo Institute for the Visual Arts, is returning to the Certosa di San Giacomo on the Italian island of Capri, this time to stage a new contemporary art exhibition entitled “Thought and Matter”. This group show forms part of “Contemporary Visions at the Certosa”, a multi-‐year international cultural exchange programme. The “Thought and Matter” exhibition – conceived and staged by IGAV in partnership with the Campania Museum Hub (technical and scientific co-‐ordination by Patrizia Di Maggio) and with the support of Capri City Council and SisalPay – has set itself the objective of creating a cultural bridge to allow the work of fourteen Argentine and fourteen Italian artists to be compared and contrasted. It is an exhibition that presents the evolving forms of art in present-‐day Argentina and Italy, as a gateway for reflecting on the mode of creating and reading images – activities that are viewed as crucial in contemporary life. The works on show will provide the launch pad for a meditation on the new identity and the new “way” of representing modern life. The second staging of the exhibition at the Certosa on Capri was 2015’s “Painting the Present”. This exchange between Italian and Chinese artists is currently on tour in China, taking the names and images of Italian artists and of the island of Capri to far-‐off but important cities such as Weihai, in Shandong province (6 – 30 August, 2016), and Dunhuang, in Guansu province (20 September – 10 October, 2016).
The curators, Alessandro Demma and Massimo Scaringella, describe the artistic concept of the exhibition in the following terms: “The ‘Thought and Matter’ exhibition arose out of a theoretical reflection by Jean-‐ Luc Nancy on philosophical analysis, taking in thought, reality and materiality. Comparison, dialogue, debate and exchanges with the other are the central questions of these ‘traces of existence’ that, as Nancy would put it, give rise to our ‘being singular plural’. It is precisely the relationship between the singular plural artistic approach of these 28 Italian and Argentine artists that becomes the fundamental core of this exhibition: the desire to investigate analogies and differences, and to enact an international comparison with the capacity to enrich our cultural experiences”. Patrizia Di Maggio, Director of the Certosa di San Giacomo, states: “The international reach of the Certosa will undoubtedly be extended by cultural events such as the annual exhibitions staged by IGAV, which are able to attract not only occasional tourists but also visitors who frequent the island even out of season and who are fascinated by exhibitions of this nature”. Giovanni De Martino, mayor of Capri City Council, declares: “We are proud to be hosting, here on our island, artists of various nationalities, in a spirit of maximum international collaboration, and we are delighted that the exhibitions staged here contribute to enhancing the reputation and image of our island around the world”. Cristina Cavaglià, IGAV's director of operations, puts it as follows: “The organisation of an exhibition on Capri and its subsequent exporting to far-‐off countries is always both a challenge and a risk, due to the not insubstantial logistical issues involved, but after more than 50 exhibitions, we can boast a successful track record. The main problem, which is sometimes insurmountable....is cost”. IGAV, a not-‐for-‐profit body largely funded by contributions from its founders, has been operating since 2005, with the support of private and public partners, to raise the profile of Italian artists around the world and to promote cultural exchanges between different nations, and has thus far organised 54 exhibitions in 12 countries; the current show is the fourth to be staged on the island of Capri. Argentine artists whose work is featured in the show: Chiachio&Giannone; Marcolina Dipierro; Juan Doffo; Estanislao Florido; Bruno Gruppali; Pablo Insurralde; Carolina Magnin; Fabian Marcaccio; Alexis Minkiewicz; Ernesto Morales; Eduardo Pla; San Poggio; Alejandro Schianchi; Marcela Sinclair. Italian artists whose work is featured in the show: Marisa Albanese; Silvia Camporesi; Fabrizio Corneli; Sebastiano Dammone Sessa; Aron Demetz; Shay Frish; Paolo Grassino; Raffaele Luongo; Domenico Antonio Mancini; Raffaela Mariniello; Luigi Pagliarini; Tamara Repetto; Francesco Sena; Giuseppe Stampone. Main Partner: SisalPay. Under the patronage of: the Italian Ministry of Culture & Tourism; the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-‐operation; the Embassy of the Republic of Argentina in Rome; Campania Region; the Metropolitan City of Naples; Capri City Council; Anacapri Municipal Council; Azienda di Cura Soggiorno e Turismo di Capri; GAI – the Association for the Circuit of Young Italian Artists. Partners: MARCO-‐Museo di Arte Contemporanea de La Boca; Fundación Tres Pinos; Aurelia; Candy; Pallaro Hermanos; Flyren. Technical sponsors: Capri Watch; Gelo Capri; Handpicked Wines; Hotel La Palma Capri; Staiano Autotrasporti. Certosa di San Giacomo Via Certosa 1, 80073 – Capri, Italy 11 September -‐ 30 October, 2016 Opening times: from Tuesday to Sunday, 10am-‐5pm, Closed Mondays.
On Sunday 11, Saturday 17, Sunday 18, Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 September, the exhibition will close at 7pm. Entry fee: €4.00 (exhibition and visit to the Certosa) Inauguration: Saturday 10 September, 7pm. Visits and meet-‐ups will take place on Saturday 15 October, on the occasion of the Giornata del Contemporaneo (Day of Contemporary Culture). For information: Certosa di San Giacomo Tel. +39 081 8376218 www.polomusealenapoli.beniculturali.it IGAV – Istituto Garuzzo per le Arti visive (Garuzzo Institute for the Visual Arts) Tel. +39 011 8124456 -‐ info@igav-‐art.org -‐ www.igav-‐art.org Press offices: IGAV, Elettra Pr Elettra Zadra, Tel. +39 335 5929854; elettra.zadra@elettrapr.it Mauro Perego, Tel. +39 393 8188596; mauro.perego@elettrapr.it Polo museale della Campania (Campania Museum Hub) Simona Golia, Tel. +39 081 2294478; pm-‐cam.uffstampa@beniculturali.it