Since 2005, Giornata del Contemporaneo has won special attention from the general public and insiders for its important role in promoting contemporary culture. The increase in terms of adherents (from about 200 in 2005 to 850 in 2013 and 1050 in 2010) and participation (from 95,000 visitors in the first edition to about 250. 000 of the last) to the Giornata del Contemporaneo in the past years has clearly demonstrated the increasing attention that contemporary realities pay to AMACI and its initiatives: in ten years, Giornata del Contemporaneo has in fact made it possible to concretize a map of today’s art that has involved not only large cities but also smaller towns, which have always been very active, where museums have taken on the role of cultural poles with the mission of presenting and enhancing the activity of contemporary artists.
To celebrate such an important anniversary, the directors of the 26 member museums called upon Adrian Paci to create the guiding image for this edition, continuing the project begun in 2006 to entrust an internationally renowned Italian artist with the creation of the event’s guiding image. After Michelangelo Pistoletto (2006), Maurizio Cattelan (2007), Paola Pivi (2008), Luigi Ontani (2009), Stefano Arienti (2010), Giulio Paolini (2011), Francesco Vezzoli (2012) and Marzia Migliora (2013), for 2014 the unanimous choice fell on Paci, an Albanian-born and Italian-adopted artist, as a testament to the fact that art transcends borders and nationalities and with its language can contribute to the path of growth and maturation of every civil society.
And it is precisely the theme of travel and detachment that underlies Greeters, the image chosen by Adrian Paci as the symbol of the Tenth Giornata del Contemporaneo: two boys greet us, in a gesture frozen by the freeze-frame that transforms the video narration into a still image. These are only hypotheses, those we can make to answer the questions posed to us by the symbolic simplicity of the two figures. They are questions that do not only concern the two characters in the photo – a narrative pretext taken from the news that allows Paci to address the themes dear to him of weakness, insecurity, loss and abandonment – but rather concern human relationships in a universal sense. Taken out of context, in fact, the two young men no longer tell anything about themselves, but lead the viewer, engaged in the effort to respond, to experience them as familiar, close, in an empathic vision that unites them in a single embrace. The two figures, made abstract by the artist’s simple but powerful operation of tearing them out of their context show something strong and at the same time vulnerable, with their seemingly serene faces, their confidential gestures, their gaze that crosses ours while sustaining it. The rhythm of their arms and the frontal centrality of the scene communicate stability, their nudity and the low definition of the image make it elusive and fragile. The image then becomes the evocation of a deep and intimate dialogue between the subjects of the photo and the viewer, thus telling no longer a news event but an undefined glimpse of our common human condition.
“The choice,” Adrian Paci explains, “was to juxtapose two realities that seem distant, antithetical. The two young people in the photo have nothing to do with the so-called “art world.” No connection seems to be able to bring together the experience that emerges from this picture and the sophisticated and sometimes cynical reality of the art world. And therein lies the deeper meaning and contribution that this image tries to bring: the simplicity and the world-load that it carries meet and collide with the art world. “Those on the outside” simply greet “those on the inside” triggering a communication charged with humanity.
ADRIAN PACI
Born in 1969 in Shkoder, Albania, Adrian Paci graduated from the Academy of Art of Tirana and moved to Milan in 1997, where he still works and lives.
He uses expressive media such as video, installation, painting and photography, to reflect, on the theme of dislocation and the existential condition that comes with it: the loss and rediscovery of one’s origins.
During the course of his artistic career, Paci has held solo exhibitions in numerous international institutions including: Trondheim Kunstmuseum, Norway (2014); Röda Sten Konsthall, Gothenburg (2014); MAC, Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal (2014); Jeu de Paume, Paris (2013); National Gallery of Kosovo, Prishtina (2012); Kunsthaus Zurich, Zurich(2010); Bloomberg Space, London (2010); CCA in Tel Aviv (2009); Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund (2007); P.S.1 in New York and Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston (2005).
He also participated in the Venice Biennale in 1999 and 2005 (48th and 51st editions, respectively), the Sydney Biennale in 2006 (15th edition), the Rome Quadrennial (15th edition) in 2008, where he won first prize, the Lyon Biennale in 2009 and the Thessaloniki Biennale (4th edition) in 2013. Also of note is his participation in the 14th International Architecture Exhibition and the 56th edition of the Venice Biennale in 2015.
Event promoted by
AMACI – Associazione dei Musei d’Arte Contemporanea Italiani
With the support of the
Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali e del turismo – Direzione Generale per il paesaggio, le belle arti, l’architettura e l’arte contemporanee
Under the High Patronage of the Presidente della Repubblica
Under the patronage of
Rappresentanza in Italia della Commissione europea
Senato della Repubblica
Camera dei Deputati
Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali e del turismo
Ministero degli Affari Esteri
Conferenza delle Regioni e delle Province autonome
Unione Province d’Italia
Associazione Nazionale dei Comuni Italiani
ICOM Italia
Official Partner
Gondrand
Technology Partner
Telecom Italia
Partner
Regione Toscana
