The Italian Pavilion at the Arte 2022 Biennale, curated by Eugenio Viola, is dedicated for the first time in its history to a single artist: Gian Maria Tosatti. "History of Night and Destiny of Comets" is the title of the exhibition project that completely occupies the spaces of the Tese delle Vergini and consists of an environmental installation with an irreducible theatrical syntax divided into a prologue and two acts. The first part, the "Story of the Night", offers the visitor a symbolic journey through the rise and fall of the Italian industrial space; the second leads him to a final impressive vision that represents the "Destiny of Comets". An immersive work that addresses the difficult balance between man and nature, between sustainable development and territory, between ethics and profit, questions that are more urgent than ever in this meta-pandemic and politically unstable present.
At the same time, the Italian pavilion goes beyond the physical limits of the Biennale Arte 2022 through an extensive Public Program coordinated by Adriana Rispoli.
The Public Program aims to disseminate the guidelines underlying the project of the Italian Pavilion at the Biennale Arte 2022 and to involve artists whose poetry in various fields unites the contemporary urgencies of a reinterpretation of history and a necessary search for a new ecological balance. As it is social, while aiming to create an international dialogue. The activities include a network of “embassies”: Museums and cultural institutions, both national and international, invited to organize independently meetings that contribute to creating a polyphonic mosaic of interventions on global issues related to sustainability and the problematic relationship between man, environment and territory.
The public program of the Italian Pavilion has invited, in addition to the three Italian embassies – Madre Museum, Naples, Marevivo, Museum of Natural Sciences, Venice, Merz Foundation, Cantieri della Zisa, Palermo – 10 international cultural institutions (among these Zoma Museum in Addis Ababa) operating in countries where the debate on post-industrialization and environmental sustainability is urgent for various reasons. Each participating institution organizes a lecture to which it will invite an artist and/or scientist to discuss with a representative of the cultural world, moderated by a representative of each institution.
Public Program of the Italian Pavilion
International "Embassy”: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
ART IS NATURE AND NATURE IS ART
Talk with: Meskerem Assegued, curator and Elias Sime, artist, founders of Zoma Museum in Addis Ababa, and Dawit Benti, architect
Organized by: Italian Cultural Institute in Addis Ababa, Italian Pavilion at the Arte 2022 Biennale, Zoma Museum
In collaboration with: Directorate General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture, Embassy of Italy in Addis Ababa, Radio Walta 105.3FM
Date and place: October 10, 2022, at 7.30 p.m., radio Walta 105.3FM