“ExIt”

The opening of the new space for the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo was one of the most anticipated recent events in the Italian art world and is one of the most noticeable signs of a new awareness of contemporary art’s social, political, and cultural role in that country. The deployment of forces in the field is certainly significant and ambitious. The new space, designed by Claudio Silvestrin, occupies approximately 37,500 square feet of a neighborhood in the midst of renovation and follows the dictates of an elegant, if somewhat over-plastered, minimalism. A perimeter of light-colored stone encloses approximately 10,500 square feet of exhibition space, a bookstore, a film/video theater, and an elegant café designed by Rudolf Stingel. In these spaces Francesco Bonami, artistic director of the foundation, has installed a wide range of work by more than sixty up-and-coming Italian artists. Neither a theme show nor an exhaustive account (some omissions seemed rather curious), “ExIt” is a sort of contemporary Noah’s Ark: full of different typologies and species, ready to weigh anchor for what one hopes will be interesting adventures. Though it was difficult for any one artist to stand out from such ample and varied company, mention should be made, at least, of the intriguing installation by Sergia Avveduti, the gigantic prints by Paola Pivi, the spatial installation by Jorge Peris, the enigmatic and extremely personal canvases by Pierpaolo Campanini, the large sound-and-light structure by Patrick Tuttofuoco, the video installation by Paolo Chiasera, and the series of photographs by Diego Perrone, suspended in a dimension that is part desperation, part nonsense, part abstraction, and part peasant culture. And then, appropriate for an ark that accommodates different breeds, there is an extensive series of videos and films that vary widely in approach and quality (including shorts by Stefania Galegati and Alex Cecchetti). In conclusion, this exhibition brings established figures, people with potential, and many question marks into a panorama we might call—in art, as elsewhere—”the Italian anomaly.”

Translated from Italian by Marguerite Shore.