ROME.- The Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea presents BRIC-à-brac | The Jumble of Growth | 另一种选择, an exhibition curated by Gerardo Mosquera and Huang Du. The two curators come from two countries placed at the antipodes of the globe: Cuba and China, two geographically and culturally different contexts, that share a common attempt on reading the present from a group of apparently diverse visions. This exhibition is the result of a cooperation between the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome and the Today Art Museum in Beijing.
The show explores the process of economic, social and cultural transformations brought about by countries where emerging market economies are growing dramatically at a global scale. It examines the various ways in which art has participated in or reacted to some of the transitions involved, and to their effects on culture, society and the individual.
The title of the show is the first interpretative key: multilingual and tripartite, it analyzes and tries to translate the contradictory context in which we live. Playing with the French expression “bric-à-brac”, referring to a heterogeneous and disorderly juxtaposition, the curatorial project focuses on the chaotic and conflictual growth - “The Jumble of Growth”- of the developing countries, in particular that of the BRIC Countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China), from the acronym coined in 2001 by the economist Jim O’Neill. The goal is to explore the artistic expression of different economic growth models through art that reflects the social and individual consequences of progress, as seen through the lens of globalization.
The complexity of socioeconomic phenomena invites us to reflect on the condition of the planet and on the alternative – as the Chinese title 另一种选择suggests – that these countries with a strong economic growth represent on a global scale, partially equalizing the distribution of power on the planet.
The works of the artists examine the different ways in which art takes part or reacts to the transformations caused by globalization. Their introspective sight is oriented to the question that the complexity of our age implicates, to vibrant contrasts and to surprising elements, but also to the legacy of the tradition, so that they can reflect back critical and taunting answers.
Around fifty works of art realized by 34 artists chosen to speak about the world and society following their intuitions and through new languages: videos, installations, photography and experimentation with unusual materials. Artists coming from China and other so-called BRIC countries deal with other artists of international origin. The globalized and post-industrial reality that characterizes China and the other fast-developing countries is the field where culture and artistic expressions are currently speaking on the behalf of their own post-modernism.
The artists: Wim Delvoye (Belgium); Anna Maria Maiolino, Cinthia Marcelle (Brazil); Wang Guofeng, Wang Guangyi, Ni Haifeng, Wang Lijun, Tian Longyu, Lei Lu, Weng Fen, Gao Weigang, Yang Xinguang, Lu Zhengyuan, Du Zhenjun (China); Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries (South Korea); Wilfredo Prieto (Cuba); Shilpa Gupta (India); Jamal Penjweny (Kurdistan, Iraq); Carla Accardi, Enzo Cucchi, Francesco Clemente, Mimmo Rotella (Italy); Damián Ortega (Mexico); Mounir Fatmi (Morocco); Donna Conlon/Jonathan Harker (Panama); Jirì Kolár (Czech Republic); AES+F (Russia); Cristina Lucas, Fernando Sánchez Castillo (Spain); Kendell Geers (South Africa); Thomas Hirschhorn (Switzerland).
