Futurismo 100 - Abstractions

In concomitance with the 53rd edition of the Venice Biennale, the exhibition Abstractions represents an opportunity for a critical revision of the very concept of abstraction and the diverse meanings this term acquired during the course of the progressive detachment of the avant-garde movements from earlier artistic strands.

Thanks to a comparison between the works of the maestro of Italian Futurism Giacomo Balla and those of the great contemporary European artists, the surpassing of the more “technical” abstractions already experimented in Cubism is highlighted.
Balla’s works constitute the term of comparision with those of the other great contemporary artists: from the research of Piet Mondrian, focussing on the unveiling of the fundamental elements in the representation of nature (line and colour) to the ironic representations of Francis Picabia and his bizarre Dadaist machines, from the search for the essential of Robert Delauney and Frantisek Kupka, brough together by research into the correpsondence between sound and colour, through to the biting provocations of Marcel Duchamp who proves to have much in common with the poetic of the Futurist maestro.

The project Futurismo 100, curated by Ester Coen and organizeed under the patronage of the Ministry for Cultural Assets and Activities, opens with the exhibition  Illuminations – Avant-gardes Compared. Italy, Germany, Russia from 17 January to7 June 2009 at the Mart in Rovereto (www.mart.trento.it ), proceeds with Abstractions at the Museo Correr and concludes with Simultaneity from 15 October 2009 to 25 January 2010 at Palazzo Reale in Milan (www.comune.milano.it/palazzoreale).

In addition to these exhibitions we want to remember two events which are not part of the project Futurismo 100 but which are connected with the celebration of the movement: “Futurismo 1909 – 2009. Dinamismo + Arte + Azione” in Milan (www.comune.milano.it/palazzoreale ) and "Futurismo. Avanguardia-Avanguardie" (www.scuderiequirinale.it ) in Rome.

Futurismo 100 - Astractions
5 june - 4 october 2009 Museo Correr
San Marco Square, Venice
Web: www.museiciviciveneziani.it
Email: mkt.musei@comune.venezia.it
Tel: +39 041 5209070