The annual appointment with ART CITY returns, it is a week dedicated to art full of exhibitions, events and initiatives sponsored by the Municipality of Bologna in collaboration with Bologna Fiere on the occasion of Arte Fiera, now in its 50th year. A milestone that the city has decided to celebrate by paying homage to the most influential modern artist born and lived in the city of Bologna, Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964), creating a program inspired by him.
An exhibition focus will be presented Morandi metaphysical. Three drawings. Una storia a Casa Morandi accompanied by five special projects that will explore and reinterpret the work of the famous artist through the fusion of different contemporary languages: Tacita Dean for video art with STILL LIFE. The studio of Giorgio Morandi, in the new space PIETRO; Virgilio Sieni for performance, who will stage the new production Elegia Luminosa in the auditorium of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Mary Ellen Bartley and Joe Meyrowitz for photography, whose shots will be exhibited at the Museo Morandi and inside the Collezioni Comunali d'Arte at Palazzo d'Accursio and Mark Vernon for sound with a site specific installation and the live performance Saturnine Orbit.
From 1 to 4 February, Bologna turns into a stage for contemporary art, offering 200 events including exhibitions, performances, installations and meetings. This year the format of Bologna Art Week goes beyond the city boundaries for the first time, expanding throughout the metropolitan area. A novelty that stems from a very precise purpose: to rediscover places that are not dedicated to art through artistic interventions that enter into a relationship with the host space.
First and foremost, the evocative Rocchetta Mattei will host Gruppo Allievi dei corsi and their masters. Lo scalpellino che trasforma la pietra in arte (The stonemason who turns stone into art), an exhibition displaying about forty works, sculptures with various themes depicting symbols and landscapes of the Bolognese mountains, created by the students of the art courses promoted to revive the traditional working of sandstone in Montovolo and reconstruct a network of master stonemasons specialized in this technique. Followed by Pieve di Cento, a small municipality in the hinterland of Bologna, which will be the venue for the group exhibition PENSIERO LENTO PENSIERO VELOCE, an exhibition that will give the students of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna the opportunity to display works created using different techniques: from photography, to ready-made, installation, sculpture, paintings and even graphic works. As the title suggests, the exhibition focuses on the ideational phase, on the conception of the work of art, which can be a long and elaborate process or a lightning intuition to follow before it is too late.
The strongly democratic nature of the event is manifested by the choice to include in the program events supporting urban art. Among the out-of-town exhibitions will have a prominent place Joys, Moneyless, Zed1, Etnik, an exhibition capable of attracting Italian artists from the world of writing and recognized internationally. At the Bologna Interporto, different categories of the public will be invited to interact with a venue that will take on a new form available at 360 degrees, in fact, the entrance will be free and open to visitors seven days a week. Moreover, during the ART CITY White Night on Saturday 3 February 2024, the public will be able to enjoy the artistic proposal spread throughout the city also in the evening hours, thanks to the collaboration of cultural and commercial operators who will extend their opening hours until midnight.
There will be many opportunities to meet artists, curators, lecturers and professionals. ARTALK CITY is back once again with a cycle of conversations that will bring the public closer to cultural operators and the protagonists of the events in order to delve into the poetics and initiatives that are the main characters of this edition. Art city in Bologna reconfirms itself as a point of reference for the art sector and at the same time a great example of awareness-raising that aims to involve as many people as possible to bring them closer to art and culture, too often considered a privilege for the few.
ART CITY BOLOGNA
From 1 to 4 February 2024
For further information: www.culturabologna.it