curated by Aldo Premoli

Cultural project produced by 
Mediterranean Sicily Europe Association OdV.

www.mediterraneosiciliaeuropa.org

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Civic Museum of Noto

E. Pirrone Contemporary Art Gallery

Corso Vittorio Emanuele 149 - Noto (SR)

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With the advent of the Anthropocene (the geological era in which man became the absolute protagonist) the domination of homo sapiens over nature is on its way to its completion.

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At the center of the exhibition are the beauty and critical issues of the Sicilian territory.Sicily, its landscape and its population, here become a paradigm for the entire planet. Because this island is in many ways a paradise, but in others it is a land wounded by the aggression of reckless human activities.

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This exhibition invites us to reflect on the responsibilities we all have in what is happening.

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But there is a second level of reading.The environment that surrounds us was once called landscape. According to some, the landscape exists through its forms of literary representations or those typical of the visual arts. According to others, this aestheticized landscape is a cultural fetish that vainly claims to hibernate the existing by arresting the course of events. The same representation of the "human figure" is affected by the modification of the environment that surrounds it. "Man" and "Nature" are confronted today with a new awareness.

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Of all this speak i30 artists and over 100 worksthat line up in this articulated exhibition, but designed to be understood by everyone: from 3 to 100 years old.

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In the entrance hallthe structure in recycled iron and led byAlice Valentiwelcomes visitors to remember the complex relationship between tourism and the environment. Next door in theSan Corrado Roomthe video installation ofIvan Terranovatells of places once inhabited by the Sicilian wolf (Canis lupus cristaldii), whose last specimen was shot down a hundred years ago. The environmental crisis we are experiencing is also a crisis of relationships with other living beings who also exist and are revealed only in the night.

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On the stairwayleading to the upper floors the sculptures ofJano Safethe walls rich in memory of this building flourish.

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In the mezzanine there is the section dedicated to water, fire and stone. Snapshots of fires (a well-known plague on the island) “painted” with a mobile phone fromSalvatore Lanteriduring the summer of 2022. Next to it four extraordinary films built byDiego Perezcompose a “poetry” about rural water sources on the island. In the same roomExcept Alibrioproposes his hallucinatory abstractions on dry stone walls, jewels of the rural architecture of this island, whileGaetano Gambinoamazes with a nucleus of black and white prints that tell of the wounds inflicted on the Sicilian landscape by reckless human activities.

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Great hall on the main floor: lhe exhibition here explodes with the best Sicilian contemporary painting gathered here in a choral reflection. From Palermo come the extraordinary works ofAlessandro Bazan, Andrea Di Marco, Fulvio Di Piazza, Laboratorio Saccardi, Igor Scalisi Palminteri, Ignazio Cusimano Schifano.From Catania the works ofGiuliano Cardellaand the “feminine” contributions of the excellent onesBarbara CammarataAndAlice Valenti. Also present this time the two leading exponents of the Gela school:John JudgeandEmmanuel Giuffrida. From Modica the superlative works ofGiovanni Blanco, Giuseppe Colombo and Giovanni Viola. The very Sicilian and by now hyper-known did not want to miss their contributionGiuseppe Veneziano, Filippo La Vaccara and Francesco Laurettawith contributions coming respectively from Milan and Florence. The sharp landscapes ofGeorge Distefanoand those dreaming ofJoseph Costa. Complete it allAngelo Bellobonowith his work where the artist "crosses" the Sicilian landscape and does so with both watercolor and video.

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In the E. Pirrone Gallery the Sicilian landscape in the photography of Giuseppe Leone.Twenty-five extraordinary shots by Giuseppe Leone dialogue in the Gallery which collects the bronzes of the master Giuseppe Pirrone. Many have drawn on Leone's work: reporters and landscape architects, even those who have flirted with advertising by crafting a Sicilian imagery that is then exported to every part of the world. The homage paid to him in this section of the exhibition was therefore due. Giuseppe Leone (Ragusa, 1936) has published over 50 volumes and organized exhibitions all over the world. In this way, starting in the 1950s, he forever sculpted the landscapes and customs of Sicily. From the beginning of the 70s, then the meeting with Antonino Uccello pushes him towards anthropological photography, the one that investigates the customs and social conditions of inland Sicily. His photography envelops the chosen subjects with an intense pietas, especially when they represent the world that is being supplanted by the advance of modernity. Always for Leone - in this very modern - the landscape is not the helpless backdrop of men's actions, but it is a living element that interacts with them, modifying them and being modified by them.

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In the Belvedere of the library(never previously used) a complex sculptural installation byJohn Galiciacloses the exhibition welcoming visitors in front of a breathtaking panorama.

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ANDLIST IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER OF THE ARTISTS PARTICIPATING IN THE EXHIBITION.SALVO ALIBRIO, GIOVANNI BLANCO, ALESSANDRO BAZAN, ANGELO BELLOBONO, BARBARA CAMMARATA, GIULIANO CARDELLA, GIUSEPPE COLOMBO, GIUSEPPE COSTA, ANDREA DI MARCO, FULVIO DI PIAZZA, GIORGIO DISTEFANO, GAETANO GAMBINO, GIOVANNI GALIZIA, EMANUELE GIUFFRIDA, GIOVANNI IUDICE, FRANCESCO LAURETTA, GIUSEPPE LEONE, GIORGIO DI STEFANO, SALVATORE LANTERI, IGOR SCALISI PALMINTERI, FILIPPO LA VACCARA, ALFONSO LETO, DIEGO PEREZ, SACCARDI LABORATORY, IGNAZIO CUSIMANO SCHIFANO, JANO SICURA, IVAN TERRANOVA, ALICE VALENTI, GIUSEPPE VENEZIANO, GIOVANNI VIOLA.

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THANKS.For the generosity shown we thank Emma Averna, Giovanni Bonelli, Emanuele Carnemolla, Serena Carnemolla, Gianluca Collica, Maurizio d'Agata, Corrado Ferla, Fabrizio Marino, Giuseppe Lo Magno, Paolo Perrelli, Maria Giuseppa Parra and Matteo Sammartano, Renato Tedeschi. Special thanks to the Mayor and Councilor for Culture of Noto Corrado Figura.

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THE EXHIBITION WAS REALIZED THANKS TO THE FUNDS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN SICILY EUROPE ODV ASSOCIATIONThe Mediterranean Sicily Europe Association Volunteer organization, inspires its activities to principles of democracy, community spirit, interaction and social integration. It aims to contribute to overcoming discrimination based on race, wealth, culture, religion and sexual orientation through projects to combat extreme poverty, training and study projects for minors, contemporary art exhibitions, conferences and publications. Focus on culture as a tool to enhance the territory. It aims to disseminate artistic practice and increase the participation of civil society.

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Information:

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Dates 18 May 2023 - October 30, 2023.

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It can be visited every day from Monday to Sunday.

Hours 10.00 - 13.00 / 15.00 - 18.00

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Entrance:​

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• ticket Medieval section and "E. Pirrone" gallery full price: € 4.00;

• ticket Medieval section and "E. Pirrone" gallery reduced: € 3.00, groups of 6+ people e over 65;

• ticket for the medieval section and the "E. Pirrone" gallery: € 3.00, students and residents;​

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• full single ticket: € 10.00;

• reduced single ticket: € 7.00, groups of 6+ people and over 65s;

• reduced single ticket: € 5.00, students and residents.

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Beneficiary categories of free admission:

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• Journalists enrolled in the order after accreditation;

• Tourist guides duly authorized to practice the profession;

• Members of ICOM (International Council of Museum);

• Tourist interpreters when their work is needed alongside the guide, by showing valid  license, issued by the competent authority;

• Disabled people and invalids recognized by law and a companion;

• Teachers accompanying students of public or private educational institutions of all levels, regularly booked and authorized by the school head;

• State and political personalities in official representation.

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Contacts:

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Press Office 
Emma Averna +39.3482101514
averna@apstudio.net