Abramović, Spoerri, Yoko Ono. Major artists investigate the theme of community at Merano Arte.

From June 25 to September 25, 2022 Merano Arte presents the group show TOGETHER. Interact - Interplay - Interfere, curated by Judith Waldmann, which aims to investigate different forms of community through the works of Adrian Piper, Anna Maria Maiolino, Ari Benjamin Meyers, Bart Heynen, Brave New Alps and Magari, Christian Niccoli, Daniel Spoerri, Francis Alÿs, Franz Erhard Walther, Hannes Egger, Isabell Kamp, Jivan Frenster, Karin Schmuck, Marina Abramović and Ulay, Melanie Bonajo, Norma Jeane, Officinadïdue, Rirkrit Tiravanija, SPIT!, Tania Bruguera and Yoko Ono. Indeed, Merano Arte places the theme of community at the center of its programming.

The exhibition includes a series of works that tell how in a group one can grow beyond oneself and achieve meaningful goals (Francis Alÿs), while on the other it questions the tendency of groups to repress differences, individuality and diversity (SPIT!). The video When Faith Moves Mountains (2012) by Francis Alÿs (Antwerp, 1959) testifies that together we can literally move mountains. 500 men and women volunteers made the impossible possible, moving a dune nearly two hundred meters wide by just ten centimeters: the artist himself called this gesture “futile and heroic, absurd and necessary.”

The constrictive, discriminatory and persecutory aspect that society can take on towards individuals or collectivities is instead at the center of the work We the enemy by the SPIT! (Sodomites, Perverts, Inverts Together!) collective, in which artist Despina Zacharopoulos lists a series of insults aimed at LGBTQIA+ people, tracing a history of persecution and denied rights.

The ambivalent side that collectivity can take on emerges instead in the large wall drawing Different Forms of Togetherness (2022) by Hannes Egger (Bolzano, 1981), which confronts us with the different facets that the concept of “togetherness” can take on. The same stylized drawing returns in another work by the artist, who transforms a visit to the exhibition into a shared experience: a specially made ticket available at the shop gives the opportunity to return free of charge, in the company of a person unfamiliar with Merano Arte.

TOGETHER aims to address the concept of community from different perspectives and presents an extensive program with various collective actions. Central to the exhibition is exchange, in the game that always requires a counterpart, in the critical confrontation on important issues of the present such as migration flows (Bruguera) or global warming (OfficinaDïDue / Brave New Alps and Magari).

The exhibition will be divided into three sections:

INTERACT brings together collective actions and participatory projects carried out in the field.

This is the case, for example, of Orto volante, a collective vegetable garden created on the terrace of Merano Arte by the associations Brave New Alps (Rovereto) and Magari (Merano) in collaboration with other local entities and all those interested in joining. The garden is conceived as a space for cultivating ideas, friendships and plants, a space where visitors from different generations come into contact to create a new reality together. People are invited to a critical discourse about nature, the way we treat the environment and the future of our planet. Envisioned in a participatory way during the spring, it will be the site of workshops and convivial moments during the exhibition period, and then migrate in the fall to the locations of the different associations involved. Wish Tree (1961-2021) by Yoko Ono (Tokyo, 1933) is also a work that develops and has a sense of existence from the direct relationship with the participating public. visitors are invited to leave a trace of their wishes, writing them in pencil on cards that will then be hung on an olive tree. This is a project that the artist has been carrying out for decades and in which more than one million people have participated. All wishes are then returned to the artist and collected in the installation in Reykjavík IMAGINE PEACE TOWER, dedicated to the memory of John Lennon.

INTERPLAY is about works in which visitors can interact with each other in a playful way.

With Unitled (Tomorrow is the question) (2015) Rirkrit Tiravanija (Buenos Aires, 1961) invites the public to challenge each other in a ping pong competition and become active participants in the art project, while at the same time questioning the future that awaits us, in political, ecological and social terms. The artist questions the boundaries between artistic and nonartistic practices and shifts the focus from the object in the traditional sense to the mechanisms of confrontation and sociality. Norma Jeane, on the other hand, proposes with #OneLove (2022) a new version of the work exhibited at the 2011 Biennale. Initially, an empty room will be proposed, except for a large cube of colored plasticine. The public will be able to appropriate the work, using it to write or draw on the walls and floor, resulting in its continuous transformation throughout the exhibition.

INTERFERE refers to art that appeals to the political and social engagement, empathy and sense of responsibility of visitors and visitors.

On display here are artists who have questioned and denounced systems of power, sometimes even at the expense of their own personal freedoms, combining activism and artistic research. This is the case, for example, with Tanja Bruguera (Havana, 1968). With Funk Lessons (1983), Adrian Piper (New York, 1946) recounts how he offered college students lectures on the history and social and political significance of funk music in African American culture. Officinadïdue (Vera Bonaventura and Roberto Mainardi) provides the audience with poplar seeds, thus taking a stand on the environmental crisis and global warming. Inviting people to collect the seeds and spread them around the world, it proposes a metaphor that each of us can take an active role and do our part. The title of the work, Zoocoria(Seedbombs) (2022) borrows a term of a warlike nature to invite us to perform a peaceful act: to fight against global warming.

Reenactment - Eat Art Banquet by Daniel Spoerri

Finally, during the exhibition, a project that has played a very important role in the area’s cultural and artistic scene will be revived: the reenactment of the action that Daniel Spoerri (Galati, 1930) had carried out in Fontana Castle, Tyrol, in 1985 at the invitation of collector Francesco Conz. On this occasion, the collection made in collaboration with Fritz Schwegler Zehn Suppenrezepte (1984) had been presented, and soups had also been cooked throughout the night, accompanied by songs by performer Giuseppe Desiato. In addition to recreating this event, a photographic documentation by Fabrizio Garghetti and oral testimonies of people who had taken part will be offered.

For info: www.kunstmeranoarte.org

Hours: Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sundays and holidays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Image: Ulay and Marina Abramović, Relation in Time (1977; Bologna, Studio G7) © Ulay/ Marina Abramović. Courtesy of Marina Abramović Archives and LIMA.

Abramović, Spoerri, Yoko Ono. Major artists investigate the theme of community at Merano Arte.

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.