Ytalia: multisite contemporary art exhibition

Florence is joining the ranks of Italy’s contemporary art centers with the exhibition Ytalia: Energy Thought Beauty. Everything is connected. From June 2 to October 1, the major exhibition will showcase the works of 12 contemporary artists renowned in the Italian art scene: Mario Merz (1925-2003), Giovanni Anselmo (1934), Jannis Kounellis (1936-2017), Luciano Fabro (1936-2007), Alighiero Boetti (1940-94), Giulio Paolini (1940), Gino De Dominicis (1947-98), Remo Salvadori (1947), Mimmo Paladino (1948), Marco Bagnoli (1949), Nunzio (1954) and Domenico Bianchi (1955). The collective, curated by Sergio Risaliti, is supported by the City of Florence and organized by Mus.e.

Ytalia will be held primarily at Forte di Belvedere, one of Florence’s main stages for contemporary art, though parts of the large-scale exhibition will extend beyond the borders of the venue, with artworks on display at an additional 8 sites, including the Palazzo Vecchio, Uffizi Gallery, Palatine Gallery and Modern Art Gallery in Palazzo Pitti, Boboli Gardens, Santa Croce, Marino Marini Museum and Museo Novecento. The effort behind involving so many institutions intends to breathe life into a true “scattered” museum throughout the historic city center, amidst museums and gardens, funerary chapels and political spaces, galleries and studioli, cloisters and crypts.

Some works will be site-specific installations while others, already firmly set in the canon of contemporary art, will be at the center of an entirely new staging in these historic palaces, museums and gardens. Whatever their status, the nearly 100 artworks will no doubt activate a dialogue between past and present. As Patrizia Asproni, president of the Marino Marini Museum, said, it is “a dialogue between ancient and contemporary that aims to create a fresh connection among the city’s institutions, in a simple complexity that allows us to recognize occurrences and evolutions that otherwise would have escaped us.”

Some common features, shared values and substantial differences are expected to emerge from bringing together this wide range of artists, like inspirations and formal processes, spotlighting unique circumstances in Italian art history, in which individualism prevailed and defined each further experimentation.

Updated May 3, 2017, 1.45pm

For the exhibition, the “Forte Card” will be introduced, granting City of Florence residents access to Forte di Belvedere for free for the duration of Ytalia. The card will be offered upon purchasing an initial ticket to the Forte, at 2 euro.