Fondazione Imago Mundi, in collaboration with the Municipality of Treviso, presents from Saturday 15 October to Sunday 11 December 2022 the exhibition “Europe does not fall from
the sky – Reflections through contemporary art“, a new appointment that intends to offer a reflection on our continent in the present time, its challenges and opportunities. The exhibition
develops as an itinerary within the city of Treviso and involves four venues: the Gallerie delle Prigioni, Ca’ Scarpa, Casa Robegan and the Luigi Bailo Museum.
Europe Doesn’t Fall from the Sky presents a selection of works by twenty artists: Matthew Attard, Gabriele Basilico, Maurizio Cattelan, Jasmina Cibic, Braco Dimitrijević, Claire Fontaine,
Olexa Furdiyak, Marco Godinho, Dan Halter, Emilio Isgrò, Yurii Ivantsyk, Annette Lemieux, Richard Mudariki, Arcangelo Sassolino, Santiago Sierra, Giulio Squillacciotti, Slavs and Tatars, Giuseppe
Stampone, Paolo Ventura and Dominique White. Using different artistic practices – from installation to painting, from sound to photography to video – the artists in the exhibition invite us to
consider the issues debated in Europe today.
These works are complemented by a selection of some 40 collections from the Imago Mundi Collection dedicated to European countries. The works on display, in a 10×12 cm format, help
to express the varied and fascinating richness of our continent’s visual and conceptual culture, in an embrace stretching from the Mediterranean to the Arctic.
The title of the exhibition is inspired by a text by Altiero Spinelli, considered by many to be one of the fathers of European federalism, who in his writings after the Second World War
expounds and anticipates some of the issues that were urgent at the time and are still topical today, such as the creation and development of a European identity, the management of energy
sources, the role of European diplomacy in the international chessboard and the commitment to peace. The exhibition aims to contribute to a reflection on the identity of today’s Europe, also in
view of the challenges it has faced in recent years: from migratory flows to the health emergency, from the climate crisis to geopolitical events, and the recent conflicts. In particular, to
deepen this discussion, the exhibition also includes a calendar of appointments with journalists, scholars and researchers, and experts in international politics. They were asked to help
understand the meaning of community, going beyond national and European borders. The first meeting, entitled ‘How war changes the world’, takes place on Monday 17 October at 6 p.m. at
Palazzo del Trecento, Treviso, with Lucio Caracciolo, director of Limes.
At the Gallerie delle Prigioni the reflection is on European cultural identity, with the Imago Mundi collections dedicated to the countries of the eastern region. All the works show how
Europe has always been a melting pot of cultures, languages, and traditions that coexist and at the same time create dissonance and conflict when hybrid realities become forced cohabitation.
At Ca’ Scarpa, the focus is on the concept of the encounter between different cultures, between North and South, and finds expression in Stadium, a work by Maurizio Cattelan, presented
here thirty years after his last exhibition in Italy: a table football over 6 metres long with 22 positions, 11 on each side, which is activated by artistic happenings in which two teams face
each other. Completing the exhibition are the Imago Mundi collections dedicated to Northern Europe.
At Casa Robegan, the focus is on the Mediterranean, with the Imago Mundi collections of the countries bordering it. Here, research is proposed on the mental and physical borders that
delimit the European continent, with the sea that has always represented a barrier that, if on the one hand stops the journey, on the other opens up new horizons.
Lastly, the Luigi Bailo Museum hosts the Imago Mundi Collection dedicated to Italy, which stands alongside the current exhibition on Antonio Canova, in an ideal fil rouge linking
neoclassical and contemporary art and celebrating the artistic genius and creativity of our country.
The artists of the Exhibitions: Matthew Attard, Gabriele Basilico, Maurizio Cattelan, Jasmina Cibic, Braco Dimitrijević, Claire Fontaine, Olexa Furdiyak, Marco Godinho, Dan Halter, Emilio Isgrò,
Yurii Ivantsyk, Annette Lemieux, Richard Mudariki, Arcangelo Sassolino, Santiago Sierra, Giulio Squillacciotti, Slavs and Tatars, Giuseppe Stampone, Paolo Ventura, Dominique white.
