Alfredo Jaar – We loved it so much, the revolution

05.11/2013 – 02.02/2014
Fondazione Merz, Torino

Opening November 5, Fondazione Merz presents Alfredo Jaar. Abbiamo amato tanto la rivoluzione (We loved it so much, the revolution), a major exhibition curated by Claudia Gioia and dedicated to the work of one of the most uncompromising, compelling, and innovative artists working today.

Specifically created for this exhibition, Alfredo Jaar’s new project plays on the idea of reflection (as both reproduction of images and thought or consideration) and the relations between culture and democratic life, as he questions the sense of memory and political participation in the sixties and seventies. He does so not as an act of commemoration, but rather as a constant engagement in the promotion of culture as a decisive factor for change.

Consisting of 65 artworks, the exhibition starts with a major installation that consists of millions of pieces of broken glass and mirror that cover most of the main exhibition space. As viewers walk on this reflecting surface of debris, they also move along the space of memory, and while engaged in self-reflection, they are invited to think over some difficult moments of our collective history. The remains of the lessons of history become the ground for hope and cultural rebirth.

In a second space, the artist orchestrates a dialogue with a 1970 work by Mario Merz titled Sciopero generale azione politica relativa proclamata relativamente all’arte, bringing it to our present times through a poetic and nostalgic mise-en-scène.

Some walls of the Fondazione will be entirely covered by Alfredo Jaar’s works, from those dating back to the seventies to others specifically created for this exhibition. His works dedicated to Antonio Gramsci, Pier Paolo Pasolini, and Giuseppe Ungaretti, together with those produced during the dictatorship in Chile and the ones promoting political awareness will merge with the works by artists who have never ceased to question the world such as Mario Merz as well as Alighiero Boetti, Luis Camnitzer, Valie Export, Hans Haacke, On Kawara, Yves Klein, Joseph Kosuth, Piero Manzoni, Fabio Mauri, Cildo Meireles, Yoko Ono, Giuseppe Penone, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Gerhard Richter, Nancy Spero and Lawrence Weiner.

Accompanying the exhibition is a catalogue published by Fondazione Merz with essays by Claudia Gioia, an unpublished poem from the sixties by Nanni Balestrini, and an interview of the artist by Luigi Fassi.

Alfredo Jaar (b. 1956; Santiago, Chile) is an artist, architect and filmmaker. His work has been shown extensively around the world.

Curated by Claudia Gioia

Practical informations
Fondazione Merz
via Limone 24
10141 Torino
Tuesday–Sunday 11am–7pm