Cookie Consent by Free Privacy Policy website ARIEL SCHLESINGER | ATO Art Takes Over | dal 20 aprile 2021 | Galleria Massimo Minini&Francesca Minini
april 15, 2021 - Galleria Massimo Minini

ARIEL SCHLESINGER | ATO Art Takes Over | dal 20 aprile 2021 | Galleria Massimo Minini&Francesca Minini

ATO Art Takes Overpresents Transformation,a #contemporaryart exhibition in Via della Spiga48 with works by Monica Bonviciniand Ariel Schlesinger.Art Takes Overempty spaces in Via della Spiga. Inspired by the successful transformation of the high-street empty storefronts in major cities worldwide at times of economic crisis, Art Takes Over aims to encourage a new renaissance.

Thanks to a close collaboration between landlords and leading Milanese art galleries, the exhibition revitalizes commercial vacancies in Via della Spiga 48 by filling them with the works of contemporary artists. Well known as part of the Quadrilatero della Moda, Milan’s fashion luxury district, Via della Spiga is a street in constant evolution, its story filled with contrasting experiences and an enduring link to the arts. In what is now Palazzo Garzanti at n. 30, Italian patriots wrote the Manifestothat started the 1848 insurrection against the Hapsburgs, the so-called Cinque giornate di Milano(Five Days of Milan).

For decades, following Italy’s reunification in 1861, the street’s Caffé Merloregularly hosted artists (such as Igino Ugo Tarchetti and Arrigo Boito) who were part of the bohemian movement of the scapigliati (unkempt or disheveled). They wished to promote a more independent, intimate and immediate art.

During the early 1940s, Giò Ponti designed the new Palazzo Garzanti. The 1950s saw the opening of artist studios and art galleries, among which the art gallery Galleria della Spiga. Here, in 1947 took place an exhibition of artists belonging to the Fronte Nuovo delle Arti (part of the post-cubism movement).In the 1970s, the first boutiques of well-known fashion brands opened: Moretti, Krizia, Versace, Ferré. Since then, an increasing number of fashion houses opened their stores, replacing the Via’s numerous proximity shops (bakeries, fruits and legumes, cafés, etc).

A cradle for generations of artists, poets and intellectuals, Via della Spiga now continues its transformation with a reminder of its cultural roots. The current transformation, by Art Takes Over, materializes by hosting works of contemporary artists in empty storefronts. It is a trend that started internationally following the 2008 economic crisis and gradually expanded over the years in several cities -- New York, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, Minneapolis, London, as well as in Milan with the recent Viavàiproject, involving four boutiques in the same street.

At present, there are several ongoing initiatives, for instance Rebound-NYC, a series of art shows by EcoArt Projectin New York; in-festa, a collective exhibition by Co-Attocurrently filling 18 windows of Milan’s Porta Garibaldi train station, and the installation of Marina Abramovicworks in Via della Spiga 31 by Galleria Lia Rumma.

The transformative moment of art taking over commercial spaces is meant to show #people the power that art can have on a streetscape. Project manager Nicole Saikalis thinks that “This is an amazing way to activate and reclaim empty spaces or ‘the void’”, while also noting that “Of course, the ideal situation would be for all of the shops to be rented, but this is a exciting alternative”.

With Art Takes Overand in contrast to previous projects, Saikalis brings forward and enhances a close and direct collaboration between landlords and leading #contemporaryart galleries in Milan with the ultimate objective of making art more accessible to the #people: “Not everybody goes to ‘white-cube’ art galleries, but everybody walks down the street”, she says.

For this edition, in collaboration with two renowned art galleries – Galleria Raffaella Corteseand Galleria Francesca e Massimo Minini– two outstanding contemporary artists have been selected: Italian #monicabonvicini (Venice, 1965) and Israeli Ariel Schlesinger(Jerusalem, 1980). Though in different ways, they are both connected to the current global situation and the objective of transformation.

Monica Bonvicini, in particular, has dedicated part of her worksto the topic of natural disasters. Here, she presents a drawing covering a natural catastrophe as a consequence of human actions such as global warming, From East to West (Bellemont) (2020). The room is then flooded with light with Bent in Shape(2017), a sculpture where the artist employs light for its powerful ability to define spaces, although light itself is immaterial.

Other important subjects of her research such as written language, gender, sexuality, and power are further developed in works such as Satisfy Me(2017), Belts Ball (2015) and Come on Cowboy (2020).

Her thoughtful contributions will carry a strong message in a street that has been heavily impacted by the pandemic. Ariel Schlesinger’svariations on destruction and abandonment are looked upon with a positive eye and turned into construction and creation. His ongoing research focuses on how to turn negative events into positive ones, turning daily products of consumption into rare and surreal objects. Big Oriental carpets and canvases (here, two Untitledworks from 2015 and 2016) are rolled up and burnt over a fire and then unfurled in the gallery as an eerily mesmerizing “painting”.

Ariel’s works suggest many contexts and situations including the tensions of his native region, but never dwell on this alone. With the three sculptures Nice to meet you(2019), by breaking mirrors Ariel shows his ability to see the creative potential in ordinary things and an unprecedented willingness to tap into the world of sculpture without ever losing sight of the extraordinary effect of surprise.

Art Takes Overoffers a message of dynamism and hope while we are all looking forward to a “new normal” in every day’s life. According to Saikalis, “It is a wonderful initiative that will encourage other landlords to also install art in their empty premises and thus help to revive a whole street and neighborhood!”.

Further information in the press release to download

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