Pavilion of Italy | Venice Art Biennale 2015

The Italian pavilion at the Arsenale, Photo © Inexhibit, 2015

Stepping in the rooms of memory | Venice Art Biennale 2015 – Italy pavilion

Codice Italia (Code Italy) is the title of the exhibition in the Italian Pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale 2015.
Curated by Vincenzo Trione, the exhibition is a voyage across Italy’s contemporary art, highlighting some constants, that share a common “genetic code”. From the curator’s words: “Though they follow different paths, the artists of Codice Italia aim to re-invent media, while, at the same time, they draw on the existing iconographic and cultural material in a problematic way. Although the work of these artists is in tune with the most audacious results of international artistic research, they avoid the dictatorship of the present”.

Mimmo Paladino, Untitled, 2015, photo © Inexhibit, 2015

The artists have been invited to realize symbolic works, sort of poetic manifestos, as well as to combine them with “Archives of Memory” inspired by the “Mnemosyne Atlas” by Aby Warburg (an art history critic, that in the late-Twenties realized an illustrated atlas made with images taken from books, magazines and other sources of the time; a sort of encyclopedia of the European culture memory, sorted into chapters). The exhibition, designed by Giovanni Francesco Frascino, therefore provides autonomy to each artist’s work and is organized in “rooms”, each housing one piece of art and one archive of memory.

Nicola Samorì, “Archive of Memory”, 2015, photo © Inexhibit, 2015

Antonio Biasucci, “Corpo Unico”, 2015, photo © Inexhibit, 2015

Marzia Migliora, “Stilleven”, 2015, installation view; photo © Inexhibit, 2015

Featured artists: Alis/Filliol, Andrea Aquilanti, Francesco Barocco, Vanessa Beecroft, Antonio Biasucci, Giuseppe Caccavale, Paolo Gioli, Jannis Kounellis, Nino Longobardi, Marzia Migliora, Luca Monterastrelli. Mimmo Paladino, Claudio Parmiggiani, Nicola Samorì, Aldo Tambellini

Alongside the invited artists’ work, the exhibition features installations by Peter Greenaway, William Kentridge, and Jean-Marie Straub and a video installation by Davide Ferrario presenting Umberto Eco’s idea of memory.

The “Tribute to Italy” by Peter Greenaway, photo © Inexhibit, 2015

Davide Ferrario / Umberto Eco, “On Memory”, photo © Inexhibit, 2015

Claudio Parmiggiani, “Untitled”, 1997-2015, photo © Inexhibit, 2015

Vanessa Beecroft, “La membre fantôme”, 2015, photo © Inexhibit, 2015