The 5th edition of Arte all’Arte, curated by Roberto Pinto and Gilda Williams, stood out for its boldness in expanding artistic horizons, giving space to cultures and voices not yet fully recognized on the international scene. In an era in which the internet is redefining distances, it has become impossible to limit the gaze exclusively to Europe and North America as the centers of contemporary artistic production.
The invited artists brought reflections from geographically distant but culturally close contexts to the thinking of contemporary practice. Tania Bruguera explored new narratives in Poggibonsi, while Martin Creed offered his unique vision in San Gimignano. Wim Delvoye intertwined tradition and provocation in Montalcino, and Alberto Garutti engaged in dialogue with the public in Colle di Val d’Elsa. Kendell Geers challenged conventions in Volterra, Sislej Xhafa created a bridge between art and society in Casole d’Elsa, and the collective A Constructed World enriched San Gimignano with its participatory works.
An edition that celebrated diversity, challenged boundaries, and embraced art as a universal and inclusive language.
Edited by Roberto Pinto e Gilda Williams.
"The strongly expressive language in the work of Tania Bruguera in Poggibonsi and in that of Kendell Geers in Volterra, the mix between artistic intervention and musical performance by Martin Creed in San Gimignano, the relationship between art and architecture emphasized in the work of Alberto Garutti in Colle di Val d’Elsa, the installations of Sislej Xhafa in Casole d’Elsa, the Flemish tradition contaminated by mass media culture in Wim Delvoye's work in Montalcino. These are the contemporary beauties that we will be able to appreciate along our journey, set within a natural framework that is already a work of art in itself.
See you soon then, the journey is about to begin.
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Arte Architecture Landscape are the conceptual terms around which the project revolves, now in its fifth edition, this year curated by Roberto Pinto and Gilda Williams.
The search for a different point of balance between cities and the countryside, between the culture that asserts itself in large urban centers and the one that develops in these small towns, can be rethought, find new forms, and give new vitality to ancient knowledge.
Art and artists, to locally rethink global culture without breaking communication with others, those distant from contemporary art, and with the roots present here.
Works of art in the cities, to allow those who have always lived there to see them with different eyes.
Of course, the road is long, but the works that the artists create each year specifically for these places always fill us with new enthusiasm, and even the local communities and administrations of Casole d’Elsa, Colle di Val d’Elsa, Montalcino, Poggibonsi, San Gimignano, and Volterra are increasingly sensitive and engaged in this endeavor.
City and countryside, so as not to let the outskirts become ugly by abandoning them to themselves, and to prevent our landscape—so rich in flavors and visual stimuli—from becoming flattened by neglect, carelessness, and lack of information.
(…) This year, alongside the works by Ilya Kabakov and Sol LeWitt hosted in the city of Colle di Val d’Elsa, an additional tool has been added to enhance education and visits to cities through contemporary art: the work I Dormienti, donated by Mimmo Paladino to the city of Poggibonsi. These three works now create a new permanent route, the result of the participation of three elements: the artist, the public administrator (directly, as in Colle di Val d’Elsa, or supported by local sponsors, as in Poggibonsi), and a “cultural trust bridge” such as the Associazione Arte Continua. Having verified the sustainability of civic engagement during the months of the exhibition, the association has been able to collaborate to ensure that the works remain in the spaces of everyday life in the cities, renewing an identity of art.
Mario Cristiani from Arte all’Arte V
