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The Florence Biennale, which has come to its X edition with the theme “Art and the Polis”, conjoined the arts within the Fortezza da Basso, thus turning it into a citadel of creativity.

The theme focused on the challenges of contemporary art in the polis understood as "city of artists", source of a plural contemporary look on nature, on life, on all the events that were deeply disturbing the first years of this millennium.

Conquered by contemporary artists, that ‘fortress’ virtually dialogued with EXPO 2015. The Florentine exhibition, in fact, aimed at ‘nourishing the planet’ with art. Besides, while joining the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of Florence as temporary capital of Italy, the Florence Biennale claimed the leading role of its hometown in the art world.

Nine days of exhibition, 423 artists from 62 countries from all five continents, three Lifetime Achievement Awards, the recognition of a woman who combines art with the will to save the memory of archaeological evidence destroyed by ISIS in Mosul and forty thematic events have constituted the schedule of the 10th edition.

The X Florence Biennale presented a wealth of artistic proposals also in three new artistic categories: Textile & Fiber Art, Ceramics and Jewellery. Encompassed in the collateral events programme was, amongst other, the exhibition “To Desdemona”, curated by Melanie Zefferino and featuring 28 portraits of ‘contemporary women’ by Franca Pisani – all on displayed in the foyer of the new Court of Justice in Florence in concomitance with the opening of its centre for gender-based violence victims.

A highlight of the 10th edition was the presence of a young, Iranian-born woman artist who has been able to conjoin research, design and the will to save the memory of cultural heritage that ISIS has threatened by destroying archaeological remains at Mosul. She is Morehshin Allahyari, born and raised in Iran and moved to the United States, lecturer at the San Jose State University (California) since 2007. At the 10th Florence Biennale, she presented Re Uthal from her “Material Speculation: ISIS (work in progress)” series. That project consists of a 3D modelling and 3D printing work (in progress), aimed at ‘reconstructing’ ancient statues and artefacts (of the Roman and Assyrian periods) that were destroyed by ISIS in 2015. 

Each 3D printed object of the series incorporates a flash drive and a memory card, which includes images, maps, pdf files, and videos of the artefacts and sites that were devastated. Morehshin Allahyari was awarded with a Special Award from the President of the Florence Biennale for the commitment to the protection of cultural heritage. Morehshin Allahyari is a new media artist, art activist, educator, and curator. Her work extensively deals with the political, social, and cultural contradictions we face every day. She thinks about technology as a poetic tool to document the personal and collective lives we live and our struggles as humans in the 21st century.

During the X Florence Biennale, the “Lorenzo il Magnifico” Lifetime Achievement Award for Photography and Cinematographic Art went to Mario Carbone, master of Neo-realism who documented the present and investigated the world of the avant-garde of the twentieth century.
Recognition has been conferred on him for his outstanding achievements in using photography as a medium to represent and document historic events while shedding light on a vast array of social and political themes and, not least, exploring the world of art. 

The “Lorenzo il Magnifico” Lifetime Achievement Award for Visual Arts went to the Tuscan painter and sculptor Giampaolo Talani, who has renewed the cultural heritage of the Florentine Renaissance with his experimentation in ancient techniques such as frescoes within the contemporary art scene, showing his vocation for an ideal dialogue with the community of the polis.

The “Lorenzo il Magnifico” Lifetime Achievement Award for Visual and Performing Arts went to the Argentinean woman artist Marta Minujín, first South American artist awarded with this award, one of the greatest performers of the performing arts. Her was an extraordinary artistic research, aimed at bringing ideas on a real level through the incessant experimentation of materials and techniques and then involve the public in a creative process of ephemeral works such as happenings, installations, performances, leading him to live art in its essence.

The myth of the ideal city inherited from classical antiquity revived in Laudatio florentinae urbis by Leonardo Bruni and the treatises by Leon Battista Alberti, who wrote his De Pictura in fifteenth-century Florence, where the Plato’s city of philosophers was gaining momentum. From then on, the virtual dialogue between the arts has been reawakening through illuminating ‘tokens’ of the past, which are enrichment for the present.

In the city that ows its name to the ludi florales in honour of Flora, goddess of blooming, it is Michelangelo’s David that tightens art and the polis in a closer tie, thus giving breath of life to Giambologna’s Apennine Colossus in Pratolino and other “presences”, including Michelangelo Pistoletto’s Dietro-front sculpture at Porta Romana. In that perspective the polis should be interpreted not only as environment, but also as a microcosm with balanced interrelation between Man and Nature.

And, not least, as a privileged scene in which, every two years, the Fortezza da Basso becomes the “city of the artists”, thus an ideal contemporary city where talents from across the world give lustre to Florence. Debuting artists, emerging artist, and established artist, all committed to experimenting forms, materials and techniques with increasingly raised awareness.

From the forthcoming edition the Florence Biennale will welcome textile & fiber artists, jewellery artists, and ceramic artists, who will play a major role on the scene of the International Biennial of Contemporary Art in Florence by bringing the past into the present through their work. 

Weaving, shaping, and embellishing: while bringing back to memory the dawn of civilisation, from Lascaux to Mycenae, those artist bear witness to the history of a civitas in which the “arts” were powerful, and determined the destiny of Florence – a community which, today as yesterday, is inspired by ideals of harmony and beauty.

After some reflection, now that Heidegger’s reverberation of Post-Modernism has vanished, we would like to go beyond the notion of Neo-avantgarde and avoid labels of any kind. Rather we would stand for a change inspired by the renovatio of Lorenzo il Magnifico, Michelangelo’s revolutionary canons, and Leonardo’s art, which absorbs and reinterprets reality by translating it into the “universo mondo” that would be theorised, years later, by Giovan Battista Vico.

Artistic Director: Rolando Bellini

Awarded Artists

Photo Gallery

Artists' Video Interviews

Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities
Tuscany Region
City of Florence
Florence Capital 1865-2015
Expo Milano 2015
Consular Corps of Florence
Civil Chamber of Florence

Elza Ajzenberg – Coordinator of the Mario Schenberg Center at the University of São Paulo (BRAZIL)
Dominique E. Baechler – Art Critic, Professor of Aesthetics and Art history (BRAZIL)
R.B. Bhaskaran – Director of the Government College of Arts di Chennai, painter and engraver (INDIA)
Francesco Buranelli – Secretary General of the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church, Director of the Restoration Laboratories of the Vatican Museums (ITALY)
Pasquale Celona – Painter, President of the Florence Biennale and of the International Jury (ITALY)
Naoki Dan – Professor of Medieval Art History at the Gunma University (JAPAN)
Huang Du – Art Critic and Art Curator, curated the China Pavilion at the 50th Venice Biennale and the 26th São Paulo Biennale (CHINA)
Karen Lang – Associate Professor at the University of Warwick and member of the Centre of Research in Philosophy, Literature and The Arts, Editorial Director of “The Art Bulletin” (UNITED KINGDOM)
Gregorio Luke – Art Critic, Curator and Latin American art expert, Director of the Latin American Art Museum of Long Beach California (USA)
Matty Roca – Art Historian, Art Critic, Museographer and Cultural promoter (MEXICO)
Gerfried Stocker – Artistic Director of the Ars Electronica Center of Linz (AUSTRIA)
Enrico Vergnano – Director of the Textile Design Center of Aunde Italia, Professor of Textile Design at the Design European Institute of Turin (ITALY)