/ PRESENTATION
CODICI SORGENTI, VISIONI URBANE CONTEMPORANEE
curated by 999Contemporary / Stefano S. Antonelli & Francesca Mezzano
From December 17, 2015 to January 18, 2016, the Fondazione Terzo Pilastro – Italia e Mediterraneo presented the exhibition CODICI SORGENTI, VISIONI URBANE CONTEMPORANEE (SOURCE CODES – Contemporary Urban Visions), curated by 999Contemporary, at Palazzo Platamone in Catania.
New aesthetic, stylistic, and semantic codes have emerged from urban culture over the past thirty years, defining a new artistic urban landscape in which art absorbs the dimensions of the metropolis to express itself on its own terms.
This is street art: taking hold of cities through the extra-dimensionality of its representations, successfully imposing its popular languages, and bringing art into the everyday lives of ordinary people—resistant to labels and definitions.
From the sacred monsters of graffiti who energized New York in the 1980s to the most significant exponents of the new generation of street artists, for the first time gathered in a historical, linear, and unique narrative, this exhibition traces the journey that led street art to become the first truly global and most widely participated artistic movement in the history of art.
The exhibition is an anthology of the most important works by the pioneers of this spontaneous and non-academic artistic path, representing the thirty years during which artistic expression reacted to cultural polarization and won over a global audience.
Through a single exhibition project, visitors could immerse themselves in the vision of masterpieces by the figures who most influenced contemporary global visual culture—from New York’s 1980s graffiti artists to the newest generations—gathered for the first time in a narrative that reveals how so-called street art became the global art movement that will tell future generations the story of the world during the era of early globalization.
Divided into three sections—chronicling the birth, interactive development, and consecration of the phenomenon, CODICI SORGENTI brings together, for the first time, the works of iconic contemporary artists:
108, A One, Agostino Iacurci, Alexis Diaz, Alexone, Bo 130, Boris Tellegen (a.k.a. Delta), Brad Downey, C215, Clemens Behr, Conor Harrington, Crash, Delta 2, Dondi White, Doze Green, El Seed, Ericailcane, Eron, Escif, Evol, Faile, Feitakis, Gaia, Herbert Baglione, Horfee, Inetresni Kazki, Invader, Jaz, Jeff Aerosol, Jenkins, Jonone, JR, Judith Supine, Kool Poor, L’Atlas, Lek & Sowat, Lucy McLauchlan, Matt Small, Maya Hayuk, Mensanger, Miss Van, Momo, Moneyless, Peeta, Rammellzee, Retna, Roa, Seth, Philippe Baudelocque, Sharp, Shepard Fairey, Sten-Lex, Swoon, The London Police, Todd James, Toxic, and Vhils.
The works, drawn from the most important international private collections, constitute a unicum in today’s exhibition landscape, becoming both a lesson and a warning.
“In a world that becomes more uniform every day,” explains curator Stefano S. Antonelli, “we cannot defend the richness of diversity unless we elevate it to the status of a value—that is, unless we establish it as a category of thought. These contemporary creators embody a consciousness and a reactive hope in the face of this regressive process. They are those who understand that the necessary work is to set one’s roots in motion within heterogeneous contexts and formats, denying them the power to define our identity in full. This is a work still in progress, founded on a core principle: to exchange rather than impose.”
Palazzo Platamone—generously made available by the Municipality of Catania—was the ideal venue for the exhibition. A site that represents the city’s centuries-long evolution, from the late Middle Ages through the Renaissance and into modern restoration, it was identified thanks to the active support of the Department of Knowledge and Shared Beauty of the City of Catania and the Emergence Association, led by Giuseppe Stagnitta.
The hybridization of languages, the reprogramming of imaginaries, and the repositioning of values are the “source codes” at the foundation of a new form of global artistic action, used as a tool to counteract the monocultural drift triggered by economic globalization.
A major exhibition that becomes both a moment of awareness and a vision of hope.
The exhibition was accompanied by the publication of a catalogue:
