I’ll Be There Forever / The Sense of Classic
15 May–4 June 2015
Palazzo Cusani
Via Brera, 15
Milan
Free entry
www.illbethereforever.com
www.acquadiparma.com
#illbethereforever
Curated by Cloe Piccoli
I’ll Be There Forever / The Sense of Classic will be held in the historic centre of Milan at the prestigious 17th-century Palazzo Cusani. The exhibition is conceived and organized by Acqua di Parma and curated by Cloe Piccoli, art critic and art director of Acqua di Parma Contemporary Art Projects.
Under the patronage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Heritage and Cultural Affairs, the Municipality of Milan, and the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera in Milan, the exhibition aims to reveal the dialogue between classic and contemporary art in the work of some of the most interesting Italian artists of today, Rosa Barba, Massimo Bartolini, Simone Berti, Alberto Garutti, Armin Linke, Diego Perrone, and Paola Pivi.
I’ll Be There Forever / The Sense of Classic is the first contemporary exhibition produced by Acqua di Parma representing a further development of the company’s significant commitment to art and culture.
I’ll Be There Forever / The Sense of Classic explores themes of international relevance—the classic in contemporary art—and observes how artists approach this concept. The notion of “Classic” in this instance is not a style or citation but an atmosphere, an inspiration, a fleeting and ephemeral element with a persistent presence.
Cloe Piccoli remarks: “In I’ll Be There Forever the Classical is not a series of canons or more or less perspective-based constructions brilliantly invented as a method of vision. It is not balance, grace and harmony. Not the idea of the Athenian democracy in the days of Phidias, not even that of man at the centre of the universe, of Piero della Francesca. Not Bramante, Andrea Palladio in Venice or Leon Battista Alberti at Santa Maria Novella. Or, at least, not only this. The idea of the classic in I’ll Be There Forever is that of a process of complex growth that puts different elements in relation to each other, forming a new dialogue that invents new forms and meanings. But it is also the idea of the classic as memory, belonging, sharing; as Italo Calvino wrote: “We use the word ‘Classics’ for those books that are treasured by those who have read and loved them…The classics are books that exert a peculiar influence, both when they refuse to be eradicated from the mind and when they conceal themselves in the folds of memory, camouflaging themselves as the collective or individual unconscious.”
To bring out the dual nature of this exhibition, the architectural studio Kuehn Malvezzi has conceived an exhibition design that places the contemporary in dialogue with the Neoclassical character of the Palazzo Cusani. It has been created by Kuehn Malvezzi using fabrics produced by the long-established Venetian company Rubelli.
The art directors of Leftloft, which have fitted out the settings and designed the graphics for major artistic events, such as the last Documenta in Kassel, have interpreted the concept of the exhibition with a simultaneously classic and contemporary design.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue published by Electa that will analyse the theme of the classic with essay contributions by Cloe Piccoli, Alessandro Rabottini, Martin Herbert, Pier Paolo Tamburelli and Paola Nicolin, while a wide repertoire of images will offer a narration ranging from ancient to contemporary art, from cinema to architecture, from science to alchemy.
Located in Via Brera, 15 in the heart of Milan, Palazzo Cusani is a private residence originally designed by Giovanni Ruggeri in the 17th century and renovated between 1775 and 1779 by Giuseppe Piermarini, with a new superb Neoclassical rear façade in the courtyard. Perfectly preserved frescoes and stuccoes in the original Baroque style adorn Palazzo Cusani’s ceilings, cupolas, fixtures, mirrors and fireplaces in the ancient Milanese residence. The symbolic iconography of the palazzo is completed by the wooden flooring with meticulous inlays.
Press conference and preview:
12 May, 2.30 pm
Palazzo Cusani
Via Brera 15
Milan
Press contacts:
Brunswick Art Press Office International
Grégory Fleuriet / Charlotte Sidwell
T +33 626 542867 / T +44 (0)783 4502346 / acquadiparma [at] brunswickgroup.com
Italy
Maddalena Bonicelli
T +39 335 68 57 707 / maddalena.bonicelli [at] gmail.com
Acqua di Parma Communication Department
Florinda Busalacchi
T +39 02 55 22 881 / f.busalacchi [at] acquadiparma.it
Acqua di Parma Press Office
Italy
Nicoletta Zironi
T +39 02 55 22 881 / nzironi [at] lvmh-pc.it
