Organised by Teatro Biblioteca Quarticciolo in Rome in collaboration with Zerynthia, Capolavori, a cycle of three appointments combining the exhibition of a work of art with a live reading of writings by different artists, wants to stage a work of art introducing it to new spectators in a context other than a museum and accompanying it with other actions that radiate it in space and time, and involve sight and hearing, mind and body. The idea behind the three events is to set up a work of contemporary art in a theatre space, in an area of Rome that is off the beaten track, for a short period of time, like a performance; each event, in fact, consists in the exhibition of a work of art in the theatre from 8 to 10 pm, with a talk about the work and the artist at 9 pm. The first of the series, held on 23 March, was entitled Capolavoro 1 and was dedicated to Jannis Kounellis (Margherita di fuoco – Fire Daisy, 1967, with a reading of texts by Kounellis voiced by Carla Tatò).
The next appointment, Capolavoro 2, is scheduled for 4 April and will feature Michelangelo Pistoletto and Gianna Nannini: in the spotlight will be Porta rossa (Il Terzo Paradiso), by the artist from Biella, and Mama, a vocal sculpture by the singer-songwriter from Siena; and at 9 pm the public will be able to assist to an exchange between the two artists, who will talk live. “Porta Rossa (Il Terzo Paradiso),” explain the organisers, “is the result of an artistic collaboration between Gianna Nannini and Michelangelo Pistoletto, the former from the world of music, the latter from the world of visual arts, who combine two different disciplines and languages”. Porta Rossa was first presented in the bunKerart space in Milan in 2007 on the occasion of the exhibition Suono e Forma – Il Terzo Paradiso (Sound and Shape – The Third Paradise), curated by RAM radioartemobile. This time, the work will be placed in relation to Gianna Nannini’s ‘vocal sculpture’ Mama, which will allow the viewer to emotionally experience a total immersion in the sound of her voice. On 9 May the last event in the series, Capolavoro 3, will be dedicated to Pallas Athena, 2008, by Jimmie Durham (introduction by Maria Thereza Alves and reading of texts by Durham voiced by Marco Quaglia, in their translation by Sacha Piersanti).
“Visual art work, theatre and suburbs are the constitutive elements of the project,” said Valentina Valentini (cultural consultant of Teatro Biblioteca Quarticciolo), “from which other peculiar features of the initiative derive. The exhibition of a masterpiece, i.e. a work recognised as the pinnacle of the artist’s production, is removed from the conventional space of the museum or gallery to find an ephemeral home on the stage of a theatre. This is where the plastic work is staged and encouraged to enter into a dialogue with other languages: the reciting voice of Carla Tatò, the “vocal sculpture” of Gianna Nannini, the poems of Jimmie Durham read by Marco Quaglia; thus creating a scenic act lasting 20/30 minutes. The dialogue or interplay (in jazz terms) doesn’t engage the work and the spectator, but two different productions by the same artist: the thoughts collected in La Perdita del Punto di Vista (The loss of the point of view) in the case of Kounellis and the poems by Jimmie Durham, highlighting a lesser known aspect of the plastic artist, but one that is profoundly organic to his aesthetic vision”.
