This February 14, there’s an antidote to starry-eyed lovers taking up pavement space; it’s found in contemporary art.
PARTING / Sometimes focusing on other people’s disastrous relationships is distraction enough from our own misgivings around love. An ancient tale-turned-modern is depicted in Giorgio de Chirico’s Hector and Andromache (1950) at the Collezione Roberto Casamonti (piazza di Santa Trinità, 1). Representing the last embrace between Hector, prince of Troy, and his wife Andromache before taking on Achilles and doomed for death, its subject matter will content the most radical of Valentine sceptics.
PLAY / Feeling out of control in your love life is normal. Luckily, Gianni Caravaggio’s installation Play me and play me again (1996) at the Museo Novecento (piazza Santa Maria Novella 10; until February 28, part of the temporary exhibition), acts as a celestial galaxy where you’re in the driving seat. Consisting of blue matting with a cup and five pieces of bronze, you’re invited to play a game of astronomical dice by throwing around metal lumps that represent the continents.
POINTED / Unwrap your present at Prato’s Centro Pecci (viale della Repubblica, 277, Prato), a multi-disciplinary contemporary art centre. Untitled (1985—1995) by Jannis Kounellis is an iron installation, waiting to gift you a sensory experience. Ask a gallery attendant to light the work, face it with your eyes closed and appreciate the soothing aqueous sounds of this imposing iron canvas bordered with knives. It’s a feast for the eyes and ears: as the temperature changes, the iron transmutes into orange and violet hues.
With thanks to Diego Faa.
