31 August 2013
“The artistic experience in contemporary art is born by the match between the new product created by the artist and the imaginative power of the visitor; the classic art has already strengthened its artistic value but its value could be regenerated by a new organization and presentation of the works”.
This statement becomes clear when you visit Museo Archeologico, a huge building that occupies one over four sides of San Marco square and hosts a rich collection of artifacts and sculptures dated from Greek and Romanic periods. Eighteen rooms recall the immense Greek heritage and the glorious past of Roman empire, through the meticulous arrangement into thematic areas. But when a rigorous historical path meets a dyslexic interpretation of contemporary events, the result is “Perversiòn de lo clàsico: Anarquìa de los relatos” (Perversion of classic: Anarchy of the narrations), the exhibition staged by Cuba Pavilion and framed by Museo Archeologico. A set of audio and visual installations aim to give us an ironic and iconoclastic interpretation of nowadays narrations, developing two main themes: coexistence and multiculturalism. Coexistence among styles and contents, such as political and social situation; multiculturalism meant as international meeting of minds of artistic practices, since the pavilion hosts a heterogenic group of artists from different countries. Exactly as it used to be in that golden past when Rome and Greece were the centre of the world, cultural capitals and melting pot of many civilizations. There, artists from all over the world used to meet , exchanging techniques, skills and ideas about politics and society. Thus, Cuba turns his everlasting debate on society to the past, borrowing ideological expressions of civilization and ancient portraits, in order to create fluctuant landscapes and warped suggestions. On one side irrational power of Cuban installations, enriched by hints from classic art, gives it new life and strength, as if those hieratic sculptures spoke again to their audience loud and clear. On the other side classic art seems to act as a guarantor toward contemporary art, witnessing its changing and monitoring its metamorphosis.
Therefore, the connected and disconnected interaction between classic and contemporary art astounds audience, called to join the tit for tat without prejudice or making comparisons: art is a flow reflecting times and souls, so it cannot be stopped nor caged to be compared.
Ultimately, people fluctuate between past and present, having lost the perception of the present and the awareness on the past.
