 |
Title: Premio Acqui - 8th Biennale Internazionale per l'Incisione 2007 |
Catalogue showcase
VIII Biennale Internazionale per l'Incisione - Premio Acqui - 2007
(by G.N.)
Artifex devoted many articles to this edition of Premio Acqui (links follow: invitation, opening day - in Italian, lesson by prof. Paolo Bellini- also in Italian only).
Now a quick description of the catalogue. Ms.Patti Uccelli Perelli is the curator of the catalogue. After the aknowledegments of a high number of persons and institutions that contributed to the Biennale in various forms, we find the salutation by Vincenzo Roffredo and Danilo Rapetti, respectively Culture Representative and Mayor of Acqui Terme.
Then there's the index, and the Introduction by Giuseppe Avignolo, which we reproduce after the showcase.
Elena Pontiggia, art historian, teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera, tells us about "Picasso and the Metamorphoses". Then there's the report from the jury. The catalogue shows all the participant artists, ordered alphabetically by surname.
There's then the iconographic part, with the reproduction of the winning engravings and the profiles of the respective authors. After that we find the reproductions of the selected works, with a short profile of the artists as well. The catalogue also reproduces other works, chosen by the editorial team.
The ex libris section, devoted this year to the competition "Thermal Waters", closes the book. There's in full the Dichiarazione di Milano sull'incisione originale, then an essay by Enzo Pellai. The names of participating artists follow, then the report of the jury. There's the reproduction of the three winning ex lbiris (with a short profile of the respective artists) and a small collection of participating ex libris.
Front cover, catalogue, "Premio
Acqui" 2007
What follows is the introduction by Giuseppe Avignolo, Chairman of the Association of the Biennale
Following the resounding success of the "Biennale
del Centenario", this eighth edition of the Biennale Internazionale
per l’Incisione has become an unmissable appointment for aficionados
of etching and engraving, while for the city of
Acqui Terme it offers a prestigious showcase for
cultural promotion, with inevitable repercussions in economic terms
and for the influx of visitors.
The "Premio Acqui - Biennale Internazionale per l’Incisione" is now well beyond its trial period, during which it steadily gained ground outside Europe, acquiring a more cosmopolitan dimension each year, with the participation of skilled engravers from all over the world.
If the event accurately reflects the global climate in which any art form germinates and develops, the Premio Acqui is an important gauge of the state of graphics today. The event is not, however, a mere overview. Art is often reactive, it presages, designates, or prefigures alternatives, invents new ways out, thirsts for renewal and evasions, it leaps ahead, or alternatively it expresses perplexities, disquiet, obsessions and - why not? - a degree of wishful thinking.
The novelty this year, however, is of a quite different nature. This time the show reaches out toward a more general public and takes an outdoor location, thereby breaking out of the stuffy enclosures of the exhibition halls and the segregation of museum spaces. This is both a challenge and a gamble. By setting up the installation under the arcades of Via XX Settembre, the exhibition moves out onto the street, en plein air so to speak, in this case in the very heart of the city. Designed by the architect Antonio Conte, the installation aims to find a cogent symbolic import that combines art with geometric rigour and spontaneity, something along the lines of Baudelaire's fabled intuition. In this way it seems to us that the message of art – intrinsically capable of bypassing politics and verbal language - can more easily speak for itself and embrace the kind of person who does not normally frequent exhibitions, museums, or art galleries. In this way the event is thrown open to a wider audience.
It goes without saying that this type of plein air installation has its drawbacks, first the greater expenditure, and secondly the necessary precautions against possible vandalism or theft of the works on show. But there is force in numbers, and this year once again the event has the patronage of the Rotary Club, and of the relative authorities of the Municipality of Acqui Terme, the Province of Alessandria, and the Region of Piedmont; further backing comes from the Fondazione CRTO, which has set in motion a network of parallel collaboration among the institutional bodies, flanking them with the contribution of technicians, craftsmen, and other supporters of varying kinds.
Our heartfelt thanks are extended to all these
people, without whose sacrifice and enthusiasm this cultural event,
now recognized all over the globe, would not have found the strength
to continue, to grow, and to renew itself with each passing year.
We believe that the Biennale is an extraordinary calling-card
for our city, and an occasion that no enthusiast can miss.
It is moreover a source of immense civic pride,
and something that spurs us to continue along this track, apprehending
both the setbacks and the satisfactions, which are anything but
short-lived.
Giuseppe Avignolo
Chairman, Associazione della Biennale
To learn more:
www.acquiprint.it
Other news:
|
Competition rules:
