Arte contemporanea dal dopoguerra alla fine del secolo Artisti, parole, immagini dal 1974 al 1989
Artisti, parole, immagini dal 1974 al 1989 is the fourth exhibiting event in the review Appunti. Arte contemporanea dal dopoguerra alla fine del XX secolo, a series of shows curated by Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo for the spaces of Villa Remmert, whose purpose is to guide the public towards a deeper knowledge of current art research.
The first two exhibitions examined the trends that developed internationally during the 50s and 60s, while the third focused on Turin and the Arte Povera movement. The new exhibit considers a longer stretch of time, marked by the emergence of several trends.
The path starts from a group of artists who share the use of the photographic medium in a conceptual way. In so far as it distances itself from the tradition of photography as an autonomous form of artistic expression, conceptual photography is a tool that helps understand the status of the image, even in relation to other languages, in particular the verbal language. This research line is documented by the works of Bernd and Hilla Becker, Dennis Oppenheim, Gordon Matta-Clark, Vincenzo Agnetti, Ketty La Rocca and Franco Vaccari.
In the 80s, the analysis of the image continues, but the emphasis shifts to the issue of representation, i.e. on the different ways in which the world becomes image, and reality turns into a simulacrum. Under the influence of postmodern thought, these artists, among them Cindy Sherman, Sherrie Levine, Louise Lawler, Richard Prince, and Robert Longo, question the traditional ideas of origination and authenticity and, by appropriating an existing image system, stress the fundamentally derivative character of all images, even of the artistic image. In such an investigation, photography plays a central role, both as the means and as the object of analysis. A different use of the photo medium can be observed in the documentary approach of Nan Goldin and in the short-circuiting between truth and fiction that forms the object of Jeff Wall's research. In those years even sculpture looked at the world of objects and at consumer society from the point of view of the simulacrum - a trend exemplified in the exhibition by the works of Haim Steinbach and Tony Cragg.
While the heritage of conceptual art can be detected in all these artists, the 80s were also the age of the rescue of figurative painting - an idea of art-making that theorists had abolished as no longer innovative, un-modern, but which became practicable again with the emergence of the postmodern discourse. The Italian Transvanguardia group, represented here by the works of Mimmo Paladino, Sandro Chia and Nicola De Maria, is the protagonist of an international movement that reclaims the renewed expressive potential of this traditional medium.
The exhibition closes with a room that takes us back to the 70s, when video became a standard way to record performance and body art actions. Particularly important in this respect is the contribution of the feminist theory and movement, which informs the works of such artists as Marina Abramovic, Gina Pane, Martha Rosler, Johanna Demetrakas, Hannah Wilke and Laura Mulvey.
Exhibited Artists
Bernd e Hilla Becker, Gordon Matta-Clark, Vincenzo Agnetti, Ketty La Rocca, Franco Vaccari,Dennis Oppenheim, Jeff Wall, Marina Abramovic, Gina Pane, Martha Rosler, Johanna Demetrakas, Hannah Wilke, Laura Mulvey, Louise Lawler, Sherrie Levine, Cindy Sherman, Richard Prince, Robert Longo, Nan Goldin, Tony Cragg, Haim Steinbach, Nicola De Maria, Mimmo Paladino, Sandro Chia
