The IX edition of Arte all’Arte, curated by Achille Bonito Oliva and James Putnam, chose as its guiding theme the poetics and evanescence of the form of clouds, exploring the infinite possibilities of transformation and movement they represent.
The invited artists created unique interventions, closely tied to the territory and the theme: Per Barclay brought his vision to Montalcino, Massimo Bartolini transformed San Gimignano, Antony Gormley created a psycho-affective map of Poggibonsi, Tadashi Kawamata reinterpreted Colle Val d’Elsa, Moataz Nasr created a meaningful work in Siena, and Lucy Orta left her mark in Buonconvento.
Making this edition even more special was the extraordinary participation of Joseph Kosuth, Luisa Rabbia, and Rocco Dubbini, who developed original projects specifically for this occasion.
An edition that managed to blend lightness and depth, allowing contemporary art to find its place in the folds of Tuscan history and landscape, just as clouds do in the sky.
Edited by Achille Bonito Oliva and James Putnam
“Art does not confine its language to the level of ordinary communication; it does not speak through masks belonging to the everyday, but rather always assumes original and unpredictable states of form. Seduction arises from the need to create a breach, a flash within the inert practicality of the everyday—a sense of wonder that tears through the horizontal impermeability of social exchange.”
The form of clouds was the subject of long conversations and gazes lost in the sky during the summer of 2002 with Mario and Marisa Merz between San Gimignano, Mensano, Colle di Val d’Elsa, and Volterra; words that gently touch the mind—a beautiful title for this edition, which Achille shared with James and which, together with Lorenzo Fiaschi and Maurizio Rigillo, we immediately embraced with joy.
The proposal to create a bridge between international contemporary art and small art cities establishes an element of territorial identity and a new connection between these towns and the countryside, now identified as the “Agro-Environmental Artistic District”: a small, positive madness—a gift that the curators, artists, and public administrations have offered to the local communities, to the international art community, and also to us during these nine years of great transformation.
We worked hard to turn the ‘illusion’ of a world full of sensitivity and culture—amid fundamentalism and violence, wars and terrorism that plague our wonderful planet—into something believable and shareable.
This experience, which grew within the six municipalities and throughout the Province of Siena during these challenging years, could have remained just an idea—an idea that the constant lack of resources might have killed off several years ago. Likewise, too many financial resources, without the ability to engage with different realities, could have ‘distorted’ the challenge we chose to embrace and nurture, growing it from the local level to the provincial, regional, national, and international levels.
(…) Working with Achille Bonito Oliva and James Putnam, as well as with Per Barclay, Massimo Bartolini, Antony Gormley, Tadashi Kawamata, Moataz Nasr, Lucy Orta, Luisa Rabbia, and Rocco Dubbini, was not only a deeply educational experience in human connection, but also truly enjoyable and productive. (…)
Mario Cristiani, Arte all’Arte IX, La Forma delle Nuvole
