STUPID - an exhibition
Stefano W. Pasquini, solo exhibition
SIZ Gallery, Strossmayerova 7c, Rijeka August 21st - September 16th 2012 Exhibition opening: August 31th 2012, 8* pm (*Mingle with the artist over refreshments at the opening party Gallery working hours: 10am - 2pm (Mon-Fri) or by appointment: +385915216934
Are artists really supposed to be intellectually on top of things, stimulating the inner creativity of our society, or can they be as superficial as often is the society that surrounds them? And what happens when society avails stupidity? This happened for example with the war on Iraq in 2003, based on the hoax of Anthrax, and thousands of lives were lost on the basis of a political lie. Wasn't the world behaving stupidly when it accepted such a war?
STUPID is the title of a new solo exhibition by Italian artist Stefano W. Pasquini. His previous solo exhibition (at the Porta degli Angeli in Ferrara, Italy) was titled “AIUTATEMI CHE SONO MESSO MALE” (Help me I'm in a bad shape) and it dealt ironically on the economical problems that Italy faces for its cultural institutions, who have been facing cuts so harsh that some of them are forced with closure. The previous exhibition (curated by Fabio Cavallucci and Patrizia Silingardi) at Melepere Gallery in Verona was titled “The End of the Nineties and the Impressionists” and dealt the with political decade 1990-2000 that in reality started in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall and ended abruptly in 2001 with the attack on the Twin Towers.
In this show Pasquini will display some new works that deal with the rise and fall of Silvio Berlusconi as head of the Italian government. The main question is: are Italians stupid for voting him? Or is he stupid for behaving in such a way? Would other countries behave in the same way if a private citizen had such a strong control of the media? Or is it generally speaking POLITICS that in the last decades has shifted from being a practical art into being an emotional force of persuasion of the masses?
All this will be dealt with the usual ironical way that marks most of Pasquini's production, together with a video installation that cynically analyses the visual “culture” of Italian television, and a sculpture made of rubbles from the earthquake of L'Aquila, a ghost town victim of yet another Italian speculation.
This programme is supported by: The City of Rijeka -
Department of Culture, Primorsko-goranska County, Ministry of Culture of the
Republic of Croatia