Imago Mundi - Luciano Benetton Collection
Mediterranean Routes
3,500 artists, 21 collections, 19 countries: an unprecedented creative
portrait of a sea and its peoples
Palermo, Zisa, Zona Arti Contemporanee
18th February /10th March, 2017
Treviso, February 2017. The
Mediterranean Sea, an ancient crossroads of civilizations, cultures and
histories. Dedicated to the peoples of this common space, “Mediterranean
Routes” is an exhibition of Imago Mundi collections from the 19 countries
bordering the Mare Nostrum, on display in Palermo from 18th February to 10th
March as part of the Biennale Arcipelago Mediterraneo at Cantieri Culturali
Alla Zisa - Spazio Zac - Zona Arti Contemporanee.
The waters of the
Mediterranean, navigated since ancient times by fishermen, merchants, soldiers
and explorers, are a place of meeting and intersection, fusion and
socialization, synonymous with prosperity and openness for the civilizations
born on its shores, and for those nearby, who turn their gaze to the sea.
Imago Mundi has chosen to
dedicate this new exhibition to the Mare Nostrum (Our Sea, as the Mediterranean was known to the Romans), whose ‘our’
aspires to be an expression of belonging on the part of all nations who share
this sea, this cradle of Western civilization: from the Middle East, with
Palestine and Israel, Syria and Lebanon, to the African coast, with Egypt,
Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, crossing Europe from the far west of
Portugal to Greece and Turkey through Spain, France and Italy, with a focus on
Campania and Sicily, and beyond, through Albania, Montenegro, Croatia and
Slovenia.
The exhibition offers an
unprecedented and original contemporary insight into this area with the sea at
its heart: the 21 collections, almost 3,500 artworks by as many artists,
collectively explore new routes across this sea which in recent decades has
also become a barrier, identified with tragedy, despair and death.
The show includes the
exhibition “Shame and Soul”: British photographer Giles Duley and Syrian
illustrator Semaan Khawam, exiled in Lebanon, both present in their respective
Imago Mundi collections, dialogue with each other through their own art. A
video-documentary traces the highlights of their meeting, which took place in Beirut
in January. Their story becomes a symbol of how no barriers exist between
humans, when hearts beat as one. “Mediterranean Routes” thus proposes a
comprehensive picture of the Mediterranean Sea, which, despite the dramatic
events of our times, still wishes to be a constructive symbol of hope,
opportunity, future and beauty.
Imago Mundi is the non-profit contemporary art project promoted by
Luciano Benetton: artists from around the world, established and emerging, take
up the challenge of the same medium, a 10x12 cm canvas; to date 20,000 artists
from 120 countries, regions and peoples, have become involved in the project.
The result is a mosaic of stories, passions, dreams, actions and
contradictions, where each work lives by its own light but at the same time is
part of a global image.
MEDITERRANEAN ROUTES
Cantieri
Culturali Alla Zisa - ZAC - Zisa Zona Arti Contemporanee, Via Paolo Gili, 4
From 18th February
to 10th March, 2017
Tuesday-Sunday 10am-6pm
Free admission
VIDEO-DOCUMENTARY SCREENING
Cantieri Culturali Alla Zisa _
Cinema de Seta
19th February; 6pm
Free admission
For more information:
Imago Mundi External Relations