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december 16, 2021 - Associazione Genesi

Progetto Genesi. Art and Human Rights. Curated by Ilaria Bernardi

Tuesday September 21, 2021

  • 1011am
    Presentation: Press conference with an intervention by Marcello Flores and screening of the short film
    Omelia Contadina (2020) by the director Alice Rohrwacher and the artist JR Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan

  • 24pm
    Preview for the press of the traveling exhibition Villa e Collezione Panza, Varese

    Traveling exhibition with four stops

    PROGETTO GENESI. ART AND HUMAN RIGHTS

    curated by Ilaria Bernardi

Varese, Villa e Collezione Panza September 21 December 8, 2021

Assisi, #museo Diocesano and Crypt of San Rufino and, inside Saint Francis’ Wood, Church of Santa Croce

December 18, 2021 February 27, 2022

Matera, #museo Nazionale di #matera Palazzo Lanfranchi and Casa Noha March 8 May 27, 2022

Agrigento, #museo Archeologico Regionale “Pietro Griffo” and Biblioteca Lucchesiana June 5 September 4, 2022

Cycle of twelve conversations online on relevant social themes related to human rights

CHALLENGES FOR THE FUTURE

curated by Ilaria Bernardi

The exhibition is being held in collaboration with FAI FONDO PER L’AMBIENTE ITALIANO; the presentation of the launch and the conversations are held in collaboration with the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. Progetto Genesi. Art and Human Rights is proudly supported by MiC Ministry of Italian Culture, Italian National Commission for UNESCO, RAI for Social Affairs, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, and FAI FONDO PER L’AMBIENTE ITALIANO.

Associazione Genesi

Presents

Progetto Genesi. Art and Human Rights Curated by Ilaria Bernardi

An articulated and cross-disciplinary project, based on an integrated, horizontal, and inclusive approach that joins exhibition and educational activity aimed at providing a permanent education on the theme of human rights.

September 21, 2021 September 21, 2022

Associazione Genesi presents “Progetto Genesi. Art and Human Rights,” a major artistic-cultural event dedicated to the theme of human rights, with a strong participatory impetus, curated by Ilaria Bernardi and developing over the course of a whole year, from September 21, 2021 to September 21, 2022.

The project is supported by MiC Ministry of Culture, Italian National Commission for UNESCO, RAI for Social Affairs, UniversitCattolica del Sacro Cuore, and FAI – FONDO PER L’AMBIENTE ITALIANO.

Progetto Genesi is articulated in a conceptual, temporal, and theme-based pattern comprising a traveling exhibition, in collaboration with FAI, of the new contemporary art collection Collezione Genesi, a rich program of educational activities addressed to a public of all ages, and by a cycle of twelve conversations online in collaboration with the UniversitCattolica.

The conception of the entire project is based on the idea that contemporary art can play a role as the ambassador of human rights. Progetto Genesi, which was conceived to be interdisciplinary and multimedial, because of the radicalness of its commitment, the vastness of the horizons, and breadth of the array of initiatives it involves, is destined to represent an absolute unicum in the contemporary art system, and not just the Italian one.

Associazione Genesi, founded by Letizia Moratti in 2020, is committed to the protection of human rights through the valorization of different cultures and the environment and has chosen contemporary art as the main terrain and instrument of its social and cultural promotional activity. The Association created the Collezione Genesi, entrusting its curatorship to Clarice Pecori Giraldi: this is a collection of works by artists from around the world who deal with the most dramatic issues of our day and age.

The heart of Progetto Genesi consists of an exciting game of reflections between parallel events, founded precisely on the uniqueness of the Collection and the Association’s mission.

Ilaria Bernardi was commissioned to conceive a project that would be capable of translating into reality the ambitious vocation of the Collection, that of serving as an ambassador of values around which to create knowledge and participation.

The project that was devised is both composite and interdisciplinary. It is based on the synchrony between the exhibition moment and the educational moment, and it features a precise temporal pathway lasting one year, from September 21, 2021 to September 21, 2022.

The exhibition itself comprises a traveling exhibition of the works in the Collezione Genesi that will travel from northern to southern Italy, stopping in four cities: Varese, Assisi, Matera, and Agrigento. The cities chosen are all highly relevant in terms of their art-historical and environmental heritage: they are UNESCO World Heritage Sites and the sites of FAI properties.

The exhibition will make its first stop in #varese where the Collezione Genesi will be shown at Villa Panza, a FAI property, from September 21 to December 8, 2021. In Assisi, Matera, and Agrigento the Collezione Genesi will be displayed in an art museum with a strong identity value for the city, thus valorizing the local cultural heritage and at the same time promoting unprecedented short- circuits between the works in the collection, rigorously contemporary ones from around the world, but most importantly from non-Western cultures, and those of the host museums, which hold ancient or modern art that is prevalently European. In parallel, a work in the Collection will be shown in one of the territory’s FAI properties, emphasizing the close collaboration and synergy with FAI in the dissemination of this initiative.

In Assisi the Collezione Genesi will be at the Museo Diocesano and the Crypt of San Rufino and the Church of Santa Croce, in Saint Francis’ Wood, a FAI property, from December 18, 2021 to February 27, 2022; in #matera at the Museo Nazionale di #matera - Palazzo Lanfranchi and Casa Noha, a FAI property, from March 8 to May 27, 2022; in Agrigento at the Museo Archeologico Regionale “Pietro Griffo” and the Biblioteca Lucchesiana from June 5 to September 4, 2022.

The exhibition segment of Progetto Genesi traces a highly symbolic temporal pathway: in each city the exhibition will open its doors on the occasion of an important International or World Day established by the UN to promote topics linked to human rights: in Varese on September 21 International Day of Peace; in Assisi on December 18 International Migrants Day; in #matera on March 8 International Women’s Day; in Agrigento on June 5 World Environment Day.

As the exhibition alone would not be able to sufficiently delve into the themes and issues that Progetto Genesi intends to focus on, its strength is the cycle of monthly appointments consisting of twelve conversations online entitled Challenges for the Future in collaboration with the UniversitCattolica del Sacro Cuore. Internationally renowned experts and professors from the UniversitCattolica will discuss relevant themes linked to human rights. The lessons will be streamed on the #associazionegenesi Facebook and YouTube pages and on its website, and on the Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn pages of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore.

The cycle will be preceded by an event on human rights by Marcello Flores, which will be held in Milan at the UniversitCattolica del Sacro Cuore on September 21, as part of the day when Progetto Genesi is presented, which will include a press conference and the screening of the short film Omelia Contadina (2020) by the filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher and the artist JR. The film will be available to the public, at the UniversitCattolica, free of charge, until October 5, 2021, in the atrium of Aula Pio XI, Monday to Friday from 10 am to 6 pm. The presentation will also be streamed on the #associazionegenesi Facebook and YouTube pages and on its website, and on the Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn pages of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore.

Also an essential part of Progetto Genesi is its educational activity, consisting of a rich series of guided tours and workshops that are both inclusive and participative, at the exhibition venues as well as online, addressed to children of all ages and adults. The educational program aims to bring together a large and heterogeneous public adn generate links with the community and the world of school, so that the exhibition will be recognized as a public space for exchanges and relations.

The dates for the guided tours and workshops will be communicated at the beginning of each exhibition stop on the #associazionegenesi website, where reservations can be made for each of the activities. FAI partecipates in the Progetto Genesi’s educational mission by involving the volunteers of the Delegazioni FAI and in particular the mediators of FAI Ponte tra Culture, who come from different countries, and who will make an original contribution by describing the works in the Collezione Genesi live and via podcast, enriching them with their direct and personal testimonies.

Progetto Genesi will end in Rome, exactly one year after it started, on September 21, 2022, for which a large closing event will be organized.

The exhibition is accompanied by a bilingual catalogue (Italian and English) entitled “Progetto Genesi. Art and Human Rights” published by Silvana Editoriale and edited by Ilaria Bernardi. In addition to the institutional texts and a foreword written by both #letiziamoratti and #claricepecorigiraldi, the catalogue includes an essay about Progetto Genesi written by #ilariabernardi that illustrates the concept and its development. It also includes a section on the Collection itself with entries for each of the works and about the artists, each of which accompanied by an artist’sstatement. Lastly, a large section includes information about all the activities planned for Progetto Genesi.

Associazione Genesi

associazionegenesi.it | info@associazionegenesi.it Instagram | Facebook | YouTube

INFORMAZIONI PRATICHE Villa e Collezione Panza Piazza Litta, 1, 21100 #varese fondoambiente.it

t. 0332 283960 | e. faibiumo@fondoambiente.it

Opening hours

Tuesday September 21, 2021: from 4 to 6 pm
From Tuesday to Sunday: 10 am to 6 pm (closed Mondays)
Last ticket will be sold 45 minutes before closing time
Tickets
Ticket for the exhibition, collection, and part: free admission for members of FAI
Adult: € 15; Discount (6 - 18 years): € 7; Students up to 25 years: € 10; Family (2 adults and children aged 6- 18): € 35

PRESS CONTACTS
PCM Studio di Paola C. Manfredi
Via Farini 70 | 20159 Milan | www.paolamanfredi.com
Paola C. Manfredi | paola.manfredi@paolamanfredi.com
Francesca Ceriani | francesca@paolamanfredi.com | T. + 39 340 9182004

L’ASSOCIAZIONE GENESI

Associazione Genesi, founded in 2020 at the behest of #letiziamoratti, is committed to the defense of human rights by valorizing the different cultures and the environment. The Associazione’s mission is to contribute, through contemporary art, to the creation of a more responsible and socially active citizenry. For this reason, #associazionegenesi created Collezione Genesi, under the curatorship of #claricepecorigiraldi, selecting artworks by artists from around the world and from different generations, which reflect on the urgent, complex, and at times dramatic cultural, environmental, social, and political issues of today. The Associazione is also the founder of the E4Impact Foundation, which also sees the participation of Mapei, WeBuild, Intesa Sanpaolo, Eni, Università Cattolica, VueTel, and Associazione Always Africa. E4Impact offers entrepreneurial programs in seventeen African countries, with a threefold objective: to train new entrepreneurs to make a strong social impact; to collaborate with African universities in order to offer entrepreneurial training aimed at concrete action; to encourage encounters between Italian and African ventures aimed at sustainability.

THE COLLEZIONE GENESI

To date, the Genesis Collection includes works by: Morteza Ahmadvand (Khorramabad, Iran, 1981); Mequitta Ahuja (Grand Rapids, Michigan, MI, USA, 1976); Leila Alaoui (Paris, France, 1982-Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 2016); Hangama Amiri (Peshawar, Pakistan, 1989); Liu Bolin (Shandong, China, 1973); Monica Bonvicini (Venice, Italy, 1965); Zoë Buckman (Hackney, London, Inghilterra, 1985); Soudeh Davoud (Tehran, Iran, 1988); Anne de Carbuccia (New York, NY USA, 1968); Zehra Dogan (Diyarbakır, Kurdistan, 1989); Shilpa Gupta (Mumbai, India, 1976); Alfredo Jaar (Santiago of Chile, Chile, 1956); JR (Paris, France, 1983); Zhanna Kadyrova (Brovary, Ukraine, 1981); Iva Lulashi (Tirana, Albania, 1988); Ibrahim Mahama (Tamale, Ghana, 1987); Wonder Buhle Mbambo (KwaNgcolosi, South Africa, 1989); Azikiwe Mohammed (New York, NY, USA, 1981); Zanele Muholi (Umlazi, South Africa, 1972); Paulo Nazareth (Minas Gerais, Governador Valadares, Brazil, 1977); Shirin Neshat (Qazvin, Iran, 1957); Otobong Nkanga (Kano, Niger, 1974); Jean David Nkot (Douala, Cameroon, 1989); Toyin Ojih Odutola (Ilé-Ifẹ̀, Nigeria, 1985); Gideon Rubin (Tel Aviv, Israel, 1973); Betye Saar (Los Angeles, CA, USA, 1926); Henry Taylor (Ventura, CA, USA, 1958); Pascale Marthine Tayou (Yaoundé, Cameroon, 1967); Lava Thomas (Los Angeles, CA, USA, 1950 ca.).

TRAVELING EXHIBITION OF THE WORKS IN THE COLLEZIONE GENESI

The message that joins the works in the Collezione Genesi is the defense of human rights. The traveling exhibition, curated by #ilariabernardi, identifies within the Collezione Genesi six main theme-based sections in which this message is expressed in the works:
-
The Memory of a People: the traditions and the history of each community as a collective memory to be preserved in so far as it is a fundamental identifying element.

- A Multicultural Identity: multiple identities and the importance of dialogue, exchange, and mutual respect between cultures.
-
The Victims of Authority: violent acts carried out by governments on their own citizens in some parts of the world, the victims of coercion, censure, genocide, war, exploitation

- The Color of a Person’s Skin: the prejudices and injustices that #people are subjected to in the United States because of the color of their skin.
-
The Female Condition: the role of women in contexts, whether private or public, where male supremacy persists.

- The Safeguarding of the Environment: the damage wreaked by human activities on the ecosystem and the urgent need to preserve the balance between humans and nature via sustainable development.

THE CYCLE OF CONVERSATIONS IN COLLABORATION WITH THE UNIVERSITA’ CATTOLICA DEL SACRO CUORE
Starting in October 5, Progetto Genesi will offer a free cycle of twelve online conversations, curated by #ilariabernardi, organized in collaboration with the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, and titled Challenges for the Future. The conversations are scheduled to take place at the same time (5:30 pm) and on a monthly basis for the entire duration of the project. The conversations are streamed on the website and Facebook and YouTube pages of the #associazionegenesi and on its website, as well as on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn pages of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. Each meeting corresponds to a dialogue of about 40 minutes between a major international expert each from a different discipline and one or more professors from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore on the main themes linked to human rights. The streaming will be recorded so that the video can be watched on the website and YouTube page of the #associazionegenesi.