24 January–16 March 2014
Hours: Tuesday–Sunday, 10am–6.30pm
Saturday 25 January open until midnight
Monday 27 January special opening
Preview by invitation: Thursday 23 January, 8pm
Museo Civico Archeologico
Via dell’Archiginnasio 2
Bologna
Italy
Curated by Marco Scotini
Italian collections and international artists unveil Eastern Europe’s ghosts and the specters of its recent history. From 24 January to 16 March, Arte Fiera presents Il Piedistallo vuoto / The Empty Pedestal, Ghosts from the Eastern Europe,a major overviewof the contemporary art scene in the post-Soviet nations, hosted in the evocative spaces of Bologna’s Museo Civico Archeologico.
“But it won’t be an exhibition on nostalgia for the past,” emphasizes curator Marco Scotini, who has since long been following the protagonists of this artistic juncture, organizing many internationally acclaimed research exhibitions. “Instead, it will be an exhibition on a context still very much alive, a potentiality.” This exhibit’s title alludes to the historical passage, but also a desire, populated by spectres, something that keeps returning, before even having happened.
Il Piedistallo vuoto / The Empty Pedestal, Ghosts from the Eastern Europe features a cluster of more than 40 artists from 20 Eastern European and former Soviet Union countries presenting a total of 100 works. Starting from the 1970s, the exhibition spans two major periods: 1989 with the fall of the Berlin wall, and 1991 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact. Twenty years on, we shall see videos, performances, installations, photographs, drawings and paintings by many of the artists ostracized by Socialist culture, flanked by the work of the newest crop of young artists now enjoying worldwide fame.
The artists include Marina Abramovic, Vyatscheslav Akhunov, Victor Alimpiev, Pawel Althamer, Evgeny Antufiev, Janis Avotins, Said Atabekov, Miroslav Balka, Mircea Cantor, Gintaras Didžiapetris, Thea Djordjadze, Petra Feriancova, Yona Friedman, Dmitry Gutov, Ion Grigorescu, Igor Grubic, Petrit Halilaj, Lukáš Jasanský and Martin Polák, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Július Koller, Jiri Kovanda, Elena Kovylina, Robert Kuśmirowski, Armando Lulaj, David Maljkovic, Vlado Martek, Yerbossyn Meldibekov, Ivan Mikhailov, MoAA (Dorothy Miller), Ciprian Muresan, Deimantas Narkevicius, Roman Ondak, Adrian Paci, Tobias Putrih, Anri Sala, Kateřina Šedá, Nedko Solakov, Monika Sosnowska, Tàmas St.Turba, Miroslav Tichý, Jaan Toomik, Victor Man, David Ter-Oganyan and Alexandra Galkina, Goran Trbuljak, and Artur Zmjewski.
The works exhibited belong to Italy’s top private art collections, including the Collection Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, the Nicola Trussardi Foundation, the Enea Righi Collection, La Gaia Collection, Turin, the Maramotti Collection, Unicredit, the Gemma Testa Collection, the Consolandi Collection, Agiverona Collection, the Morra-Greco Foundation, the Vittorio Gaddi Collection, Fondazione Videoinsight, Together Collection (To) and others who wished to remain anonymous.
The accompanying catalogue is published in Italian and English by Mousse publishing and includes contributions by Boris Buden, Keti Chukhrov, Vit Havranek, Marco Scotini, and Joanna Warsza.
Information
ARTE FIERA
International exhibition of modern and contemporary art
Opening times
Preview by invitation: Thursday 23 January noon–9pm
Open to visitors: Friday 24–Monday 27 January
Hours: Friday–Sunday 11am–7pm; Monday 11am–5pm
Sectors
Modern and contemporary art; publishing houses, bookstores, institutions
Entrances
Costituzione Ovest
Organization
Arte Fiera
BolognaFiere
Viale della Fiera, 20
40127 Bologna
Italy
T +39 051 282 111 / artefiera@bolognafiere.it