Biennale 2001
The third edition of the Florence Biennale will be remember as the first exhibition where artists from all over the world have expressed their reaction to the tragic events of 11 September.
From 7 to 16 december the third edition of the Biennale took place in Florence in the Historical Fortezza da Basso. The exhibition organized by Arte Studio and promoted in collaboration with City of Florence, it’s been sponsored by Ferrovie dello Stato and other cultural and governative associations from different countries as Canada, Spain, Ireland, Mexico, Venezuela and the United States of America, that have also made possible the artists’s participation.
In the third edition of the Florence Biennale have participated 600 artists, painters, sculptors, photographers, digital artists and video art, from the United States to Latinamerica, from Europe to China, from Australia to Japan. The Biennale had 54 participating countries.
The main objective of the exhibition is to offer to many artists, young or less young, famous or not but all talented, the possibility of exhibiting their artwork and to be part of a huge important exhibition which offers all the different artistic languages and expressions of actual interest. There haven’t been an international event that has made possibile such a closed relation between the studio of an artist an the walls of a show.
An important personality as The Prince of Wales, Charles of England has choosen to exhibit twelve of his artworks in the Florence Biennale, giving homage to it.
After 60 Minute Man, done in the Biennale di Venezia, Casagrande & Rintala installed in the historical centre of Florence, in Piazza della Repubblica, a big circular wall, of 3,185 mts hight and 6,37 mts of diameter, using as bricks 15.000 books of religion, polityics and philosophy coming from all over the world (see photo). A curiosity of the artwork is that it’s diameter is the same of the earth in scala 1 to 2001.
The event has won the official acclaim from many fronts besides the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: the Embassies of many nations, Philadelphia’s Mayor John F. Street (Philadelphia is twinned with Florence), and Mayor Vera Katz of Portland.
In collaboration with the United Nations, the Biennale is also an official participant in the “Dialogue among Civilizations” program.
As has been its custom ever since the first time it was staged, the Florence Biennale will include a wide range of secondary events, of a historical, artistic and cultural character, that will be put on inside the Fortezza da Basso:
The Macchiaioli of Caffè Michelangelo
Thirty paintings and drawings by Giovanni Fattori, Silvestro Lega, Telemaco Signorini and other exponents of the “Macchiaioli” school (the Italian Impressionists) from the “Pepi” collection at the Pinacoteca Amedeo Modigliani Museum in Follonica.
Coats of Arms of the Jubilee Popes
The coats of arms of the twenty-nine popes who celebrated a Jubilee year during their reign, as interpreted by the well-known artist Renata Minuto, with the collaboration of Prof. Raffaele Arecco and the Right Reverend Monsignor Raffaello Lavagna, a member of the board of directors of Vatican Radio.
The Violin: the Art of Making Stringed Instruments
Violins produced by one of the most refined and well-known makers of stringed instruments reveal the truly beautiful sculptural forms that allow them to produce melodious music.
Memorabilia from the Museum of Soccer
The most significant national and international memorabilia from the Center for the Historical Documentation of the Game of Soccer, reflecting joyful and depressing aspects of contemporary life, in an exhibition made possible by the kind collaboration of Dr. Fino Fini, director of the Fondazione Museo del Calcio in Florence.
Homage to Culture at Montereggio, Commune of Mulazzo in Lunigiana
Records and memories of Montereggio, cradle since the seventeenth century of several dynasties of publishers and booksellers who have served as indispensable vehicles for the diffusion of knowledge and culture.
Art as Therapy for the Disabled
Works produced by people with serious physical and mental disabilities who have succeeded in alleviating their loneliness and pain through the well-known therapeutic properties of art.
Homage to the School
A drawing and painting competition open to pupils at Tuscan schools, with the collaboration of the regional director of education, Dr. Michele Paradisi. The prizewinning works will be exhibited at the Biennale.
Casagrande & Rintala
Marta Marzotto and Piero Celona
