Posthuman Metamorphic. Pavilion of the Republic of San Marino at the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
Posthuman Metamorphic alludes to man’s natural tension towards the future, between possible transformations and new forms of existence and coexistence. The Pavilion of the Republic of San Marino at the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia will be hosted in the Renaissance spaces of Palazzo Donà dalle Rose (Fondamenta Nove, Cannaregio 5038, Venice), from 23 April to 27 November 2022. by Commissioner Riccardo Varini, curator by Vincenzo Rotondo and organized by FR Institute of Contemporary Art in collaboration with Cris Contini Contemporary.
Participation in the Biennale Arte 2022 was strongly desired by the Secretariat of State for Education and Culture, the University and Scientific Research, the Youth Policies of the Republic of San Marino. In this regard, the Secretary of State Andrea Belluzzi declared: «San Marino wants to present itself at this important event as a territory rich in cultural ferment, a friend of artists and supporter of the various forms of art. After two years of health emergency and deprivation, it is time to give space to creativity and beauty. The Republic of San Marino is ready ».
Eight artists invited to exhibit their works in the San Marino pavilion: Elisa Cantarelli, Nicoletta Ceccoli, Endless, Michelangelo Galliani, Rosa Mundi, Roberto Paci Dalò, Anne-Cécile Surga, Michele Tombolini. The selection was made by a scientific committee composed of Alessandro Bianchini, Roberto Felicetti, Cristian Contini, Fulvio Granocchia, Pasquale Lettieri, James Putnam, Riccardo Varini, Angela Vettese.
«The Pavilion – declares Commissioner Riccardo Varini – will host contributions from San Marino, Italian, French and English artists, to promote the Country System through contemporary art, with a view to comparison and international openness. In response to the requests of the artistic director of the Biennale Arte 2022, Cecilia Alemani, it was decided to deepen the proposed theme (body and metamorphosis, relationship between individual / technology and individual / nature) on different levels: from language to reflection on the present, up to work of art in its making. Palazzo Donà dalle Rose, home of the exhibition, is an example of this concept. It itself represents differences in dimensions and souls, material and immaterial, which are handed down from the past and merge into the present, combining the permanence of the ancient city with the innovative vision of the modern one “.
«The Posthuman Metamorphic project – explains the curator Vincenzo Rotondo (FR Institute of Contemporary Art) – was born in August 2021, starting from studies conducted in previous years on Posthumanism and Transhumanism. It comes from the awareness of human frailty, but also from the great gift we have, that is the sense of the horizon, of depth, the ability to look and go beyond. We always have many questions: how to extend our life, how to transform ourselves to adapt to changes. Now we have reached a critical point, where Man thinks he can be self-sufficient and that he can dominate the world. The technique, according to transhumanism, was born to save human life. Thanks to science and medicine we have had enormous advantages from this point of view, but making science and medicine overtake at the expense of the relationship between man and nature entails a great risk. Just as it is risky to force and adapt the environment to one’s needs: we see it in the drying up of the globe, in the melting of glaciers, in the change of the Gulf Stream. In fact, the real problem is us, who move towards Nature and find solutions that allow us to enter into synergy with the environment. The Metamorphic Posthuman we like to imagine will be able to interact with his own reference Macrocosm, creating new forms of coexistence and transformation ».
«The telematic revolution and the new concept of culture – writes Pasquale Lettieri, art critic and member of the Scientific Committee – calls for a different attention to change. The speed and the decision does not exceed or, in fact, a response in the appropriate time, revolutionizing the same common sense, which can be involved in a passive anonymity. Both these two extremes must be discarded, as they do not tolerate the continuous remodeling of the method, because a method is needed, as long as it does not become a dogmatic fortress, such as the one, mutatismutandis, which imprisoned the Galilean discoveries, because often the truth lies precisely in the error that leads to exploring new roads and districts, not marked on the maps and where on earth one would have gone, if one had not lost the right way ».
Elisa Cantarelli presents WRP WITHout esSENZA, with the critical contribution of Pasquale Lettieri. The installation draws on the experience gained by the artist with the We are Plastic project, aimed at raising public awareness on the issue of sustainability through collective action. For Postumano Metamorphic, the bottle takes on a new meaning, transforming itself from a container object to an element rich in content. In fact, a curtain of bottles invites the user to enter a suspended space where they can undertake their own metamorphosis. Born in Fidenza (PR) in 1981, Elisa Cantarelli lives in London, working with art galleries in Italy and Japan. Nicoletta Ceccoli and Roberto Paci Dalò present the Risvegli project, with the critical contribution of Vincenzo Rotondo. With her pictorial works, populated by fantastic creatures and symbols, Ceccoli a new communion with the non-human, with the animal and with the earth, enhancing a sense of affinity between species. Visual and sound artist, Paci Dalò, on the other hand, builds alchemical fairy tales capable of evoking the myth present in our daily life. A “multiphony” in which human, plant, animal and mineral find themselves.
Nicoletta Ceccoli was born in 1973 in the Republic of San Marino, where she still lives and works. You have numerous international exhibitions and collaborations with the publishing world. Born in Rimini in 1962, Roberto Paci Dalò is a Unirsm teacher, an expert at the European Commission and a member of the New European Bauhaus design group. Endless presents The Endless Transfiguration, with the critical contribution of Pasquale Lettieri. A monumental installation that claims the importance and resilience of nature, combining it with the human technological process. An imperfect journey towards a respectful and harmonious future, with unlimited physical possibilities and an abundance of innovative creativity.
Endless is a London artist who blends contemporary and street art techniques and practices. The works, present in important collections around the world, explore humanity’s relationship with fashion, advertising, the cult of the brand, consumerism and the culture of its celebrities.
Michelangelo Galliani presents An Imperfect Garden, with the critical contribution of Pasquale Lettieri. Born from a reflection on what the environment in which he lives represents, the project is the insertion of some fragments of a large sculpture in statuary marble – testimony of a lost civilization – inside a tank with a thin veil of water (primeval element), from which emerges a dense intertwining of trunks and branches gilded with pure gold leaf. Michelangelo Galliani was born in 1975 in Montecchio Emilia (RE), where he lives and works. Sculptor and teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts in Urbino, he won the Franco Cuomo International Prize.
Rosa Mundi presents Posology Humanity’s Time, with the critical contribution of Angela Vettese. The work is accompanied by critical texts by Maria Abramenko, Guido Brivio, Gian Camillo Custoza, Andrea Guastella, James Putnam, Susanna Ravelli. Rosa Mundi, using recycled materials, develops the theme of the Posthuman Metamorphic with an articulated installation that traces the evolution of man in his transition from a herbivorous mammalian animal to Homo sapiens, to the point of believing that he is transforming into a geological force capable of change the normal evolutionary course of the planet. His works are part of important public and private collections; she has also created numerous theatrical sets.
Anne-Cécile Surga presents Body Memories – Matter Memories, with the critical contribution of Pasquale Lettieri. The project focuses on the theme of the body, intended as a means through which to experience the world. Her bodies, carved in marble, are able to reactivate emotions and be reactivated by them; bodies free from laws and legal, religious and social expectations. Born in 1987 in Lavelanet, France, Anne-Cécile Surga trained in the United States and at the Fundacion Pablo Atchugarry in Uruguay. Her work, exhibited internationally, is part of the collections of the MUST Museum in Vimercate (MB) and the Fundación AMA (Santiago de Chile).
Michele Tombolini presents Digital Humanity, with the critical contribution of Pasquale Lettieri. The project proposes, through five works on canvas with digital inserts, a reflection on the condition of the human being after the advent of a technology as advanced as it is alienating, capable of putting the very foundation of reality. Painter and sculptor, not new to street art interventions, Tombolini was born in Venice in 1963. After participating in the 2013 Biennale Arte and moving to Berlin, his research takes on a more conceptual direction, so much so that the idea and the social message become cornerstones of its production.
More information on San Marino’s national participation in the Biennale Arte 2022 is available at www.biennaleveneziasanmarino.com, Facebook @biennaleveneziasanmarino, Instagram @biennalevenezia_sanmarino. Official hashtags: #biennaleveneziasanmarino – #postumanometamorfico.
Cs – Secretariat of State for Culture