FLORENCE.- Pinocchio, the character whose Adventures are among the world’s most well-known and translated books, is the protagonist of the exhibition entitled Enigma Pinocchio. From Giacometti to LaChapelle – A Great Italian Story on view at Villa Bardini in Florence from October 22nd 2019 through March 22nd 2020.

Generali Valore Cultura in collaboration with Fondazione CR Firenze, and Fondazione Parchi Monumentali Bardini e Peyron celebrate a great Italian story, perhaps one among the world’s most widely known and translated, with an exhibit that - also thanks to the Venturino Venturi Archive - brings together, for the first time in Florence, over 50 contemporary art masterpieces hailing from all over the world.

This show has been developed with the collaboration of important cultural institutions such as GNAM – Galleria di Arte Moderna (Rome), The National Carlo Collodi Foundation, the Venice Guggenheim Foundation, Zurcher Hochschule der Kunste/Museum flur Gestaltung (Zurich), Fondation Giacometti (Paris), and numerous private collections and studios of the artists involved in the project.

With this exhibition, Generali Valore Cultura celebrates a timeless, universal, and poetic story, while simultaneously sharing an educational message with the younger generations.

The works on display, all sourced directly from the studios of great international artists and prestigious private collections, are accompanied by multimedia installations contributing to a captivating and exciting experience. This is how the mouth of the whale that swallowed Pinocchio becomes a magic place to step into, open to visitors of all ages who can feel they are the protagonists of the Adventures.

Valore Cultura is the programme representing Generali Italia’s commitment towards making art and culture more accessible to a wider public. In fact, Valore Cultura returns to Florence with another great icon of Italian culture, under the patronage of The National Carlo Collodi Foundation. After Dante Alighieri and his Divine Comedy in the contemporary reinterpretation of Venturino Venturi, Generali Italia confirms its commitment towards great accessible art, with initiatives targeting the community and the younger generations.

It is with this spirit, that the exhibition features a programme of free access dates, workshops, and guided tours for families and art enthusiasts.

A set of initiatives towards making art accessible to an increasingly wider audience, activating development processes on the territory and becoming a point of reference for the community. Also included in the project is a solidarity initiative: with every ticket sold, one Euro goes to the “Ora di Futuro” centre to be opened in Florence.

“Ora di Futuro” is an initiative promoted by Generali Italia and The Human Safety Net to help children through schools, families, and no-profit social organisations such as L’Albero della Vita, Mission Bambini, and Centro per la Salute del Bambino. Over the first year, 11 centres for the support of families in difficulty with children aged 0-6 were inaugurated in collaboration with the partner organisations.

The over 50 works on display – including sculptures in wood, iron, and papier-mâché, paintings, photos and videos – are by artists such as Giacometti, LaChapelle, Munari, Paladino, Calder, Ontani, McCarthy, Jim Dine, Venturino Venturi and others who have made Pinocchio the interpreter of today’s anxieties, interpreting him as an icon of our time, capturing his metaphorical essence.

Curated by Lucia Fiaschi and set in the beautiful Villa Bardini, the exhibition evokes the adventures of Collodi’s famous character, combining naivety and mischievousness, independence and submission, and ultimately life and death.

The exhibition includes seven sections exploring the multifaceted nature of this enigmatic creature: Pinocchio is (not) a King; Pinocchio is (not) a marionette; Pinocchio is (not) human; Pinocchio is (not) dead; Pinocchio is (not) Pinocchio; Pinocchio is (not) a mask; Pinocchio is (not) a child. Viewers will also find multimedia installations dialoguing with the works on display.

Pinocchio – an extraordinary invention, a metaphor for every possible metaphor – this Tuscan yet universal character, open to all possible interpretations was born at the end of the nineteenth century, but is an authentic twentieth-century being. Interpreted, deciphered, and scanned, exposed to the unspeakable tragedies of the past century, this tragic mask, this marionette was able to achieve the impossible and, incredibly, he lives.

Under the patronage of the City of Florence and of The National Carlo Collodi Foundation, Enigma Pinocchio. From Giacometti to LaChapelle is an exhibition produced and organised by Generali Valore Cultura, Fondazione CR Firenze and Fondazione Parchi Monumentali Bardini e Peyron, coordinated by Gruppo Arthemisia, in collaboration with Unicoop Firenze.

From Pinocchio (after Collodi) by Tim Rollins & K.O.S. to Venturino Venturi’s Pinocchio che esce dal tronco, the first section of the exhibition is dedicated to the metamorphosis that turned a piece of wood into a living creature. Pinocchio is not a marionette since he has no strings, like Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s Marionette Konig Hirsch: Wache and Buster Keaton’s Pierrot, and apparently he is also not like Bruno Munari’s Macchina Inutile or Alexander Calder’s Red Disc, White Dots on Black even though he does move by proper motion. On the other hand, he is Venturino Venturi’s improbable Pinocchio and Gionata Francesconi’s Pinocchio/Ostinazione. What is certain is that Pinocchio is not human, since he is made of a different material, as in Roberto Ciroli’s Il naso più famoso del mondo era posticcio e tutti lo guardavano male, and Carmelo Bene’s Pinocchio. Pinocchio does not die – how could he since he is made of wood? – as in Alberto Giacometti’s Le Nez (etude), Miguel Barcelò’s Pinocchio mort, and in Guillame Paris’s Fountain. But Pinocchio is not only Pinocchio, he is much more than that, as we see in works by Jim Dine, Paul McCarthy and Luigi Ontani. Pinocchio is not a mask, from Venturino Venturi to David LaChapelle, but a reflection of each one of us. And finally, Pinocchio is not a child, as in the works by Annette Messager, Sam Havadtoy and Mario Ceroli.