The Rocky Mountain People Show
July 16th – November 2nd, 2008
opening July 15th, 8.30pm
Gillian Wearing. Family Monument
Unveiling of the bronze monument
to the “Typical Trentino Family 2007″
Wednesday July 16th, 2008, 5pm
permanent installation
During Manifesta 7, the European Biennial of Contemporary Art that will take place in Trentino-South Tyrol, the Galleria Civica di Arte Contemporanea of Trento is organizing a varied program for the summer 2008, including the performative project The Rocky Mountain People Show and the unveiling of the Family Monument by Gillian Wearing.
The Rocky Mountain People Show, curated by Fabio Cavallucci and Cristina Natalicchio, will be inaugurated on July 15th 2008 at 8.30pm at the Galleria Civica with both the exhibition of drawings by American artists Paul McCarthy and Benjamin Weissman, and the special project by Brazilian artists Assume Vivid Astro Focus.
A large number of previously unseen drawings created by McCarthy & Weissman will be exhibited on the walls of the Galleria Civica, in Trento. In these collaborative drawings McCarthy and Weissman play with words and images bringing them into inseparable relationships, so the writing, sensible or not, becomes an integral part of the drawing itself.
At the same time, the lower level of the Galleria Civica is destined to house an alternative and joyful dimension, the fantastic and multicolored world of Assume Vivid Astro Focuswhich will involve even the most sceptical spectator. The visitors become participants in an atmosphere where everyone can express themselves in a free and original way, choosing and producing video and music.
The program continues with performance projects outside the walls of the gallery in various places throughout the region:
My Barbarian: their project, called Post-Living Ante-Action Theater, is two things at the same time: a performance art workshop for volunteers and a final public recital that will take place in Trento, in piazza Cesare Battisti, on Sunday 20th July 2008 at 9pm.
John Bock: his project takes place on Thursday 24th July 2008, from 5pm to 8pm, inside the cable car from Trento center to Sardagna. The passengers will find themselves involved in an interactive theatre of marionettes.
Marinella Senatore: from 23rd to 29th August the artist will reach various towns around Trento, armed with a van and the equipment necessary to hold open casting calls. The video portraits will be screened in a square in the city center from 2nd to 8th August 2008.
The program will continue all over the summer until late October with specific projects by other internationally known artists such as Olaf Breuning, Jonathan Meese, Carlos Amorales in collaboration with the fashion designer Carla Fernandez and the emerging Italian artist Michael Fliri.
On Wednesday July 16th 2008, 5pm, in the Gardens of Piazza Dante in Trento, the unveiling of the bronze monument to the “Typical Trentino Family of 2007″ takes place. The Family Monument, a special project by Gillian Wearing, curated by Fabio Cavallucci and Cristina Natalicchio, reaches a conclusion and it is ready to be set permanently in a public place in Trento.
The bronze monument “immortalizes” the Giuliani family in life-size proportions, after having participated in the selection announced by the media, they were chosen by a jury from the finalists who participated in the selection evening of 10th June 2007 at the Teatro Sociale.
“It is the historic moment to ask ourselves what a family is – once said the artist Gillian Wearing, who will be present at the inauguration – because the common visual concept is the one which comes from the media. An artificial image which has nothing to do with a real family. I am trying to objectify and monumentalize reality itself to fight against the stereotype”. The search for the family to dedicate the monument to was actually done through the compiling of statistical profile ad hoc, which would represent the characteristics – number of family members, age, job, lifestyle, assets – of the Trentino family.
Galleria Civica di Arte Contemporanea
Via Belenzani, 46 – Trento
Tel: +39 0461 985511
Fax: +39 0461 237033
info@galleriacivica.it
www.workartonline.net