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Sara Conforti, Fabio Novembre, Giuliano Sangiorgi of Negramaro, Max Casacci of Subsonica and Alfredo Rapetti Mogol are among the 60 artists out of competition whose works will be featured, together with Michelangelo Pistoletto and Angelo Savarese's "Flag of the World", in the special Cavaniglia Pavilion at the 13th Florence Biennale (Fortezza da Basso, Florence, 23-31 October).

At the Cavaniglia Pavilion, the 13th Florence Biennale will host the special concept curated by Fortunato D'Amico with installations by over 60 artists, selected on the basis of an interdisciplinary and multicultural approach, who have undertaken to create individual and collective works on the theme of the exhibition: Eternal Feminine | Eternal Change. Concepts of Femininity in Contemporary Art and Design.

"The Feminine has been understood as a transversal concept," says D'Amico, "interpreted to give a face to artistic investigations that are sensitive to social, environmental and economic issues, explored from different points of view, found in the wide expressive panorama of the arts. 
The proposals developed by performers, photographers, painters, sculptors, architects, designers, musicians, poets and video makers were selected by the curator in order to solicit from the public "urgent reflections on the contemporary condition of the Great Mother, a planet Earth collapsed under the pressure of pollution and mismanagement of resources, as well as a decadent democracy, in an era characterised by globalised economies and epidemics", adds the curator. The artists' proposals include issues related to the female universe on the threshold of the third millennium, cultural and gender differences and the LGBTQ+ issue. This year the Cavaniglia Pavilion proposes itself as a great active laboratory for militant practices and responsible and sustainable changes, which the contemporary art world must necessarily consider, not only from an Aesthetic but also from an Ethical point of view".
Michelangelo Pistoletto and Angelo Savarese's work, La bandiera del mondo 1+1=3 (The Flag of the World), which will occupy the central space of the pavilion, and will be composed through a collective performance, is the symbol of this new awareness of responsibility, and exhorts us to "think globally act locally, to love differences in order to save the feminine that welcomes all biodiversity: planet Earth".

Other projects in the spotlight include the Artiglieria association (which operates in the artistic, social and cultural spheres) and Change for Planet (an association of young people for the environment), which will stage an event focusing on the Sustainable Development Goals (Agenda 2030), to which an interactive art installation will be associated.

Max Casacci, former founder of Subsonica, will be responsible for creating the sound backdrop of the Cavaniglia Pavilion thanks to the Earthphonia project, made exclusively with the sounds and noises of nature. The musician, guest of honour of the Florence Biennale, will also be awarded the President's "Lorenzo il Magnifico" Award on 27 October at 2 pm, followed by a talk.

Also guest of honour and recipient of the President's Award, the artist Sara Conforti will propose in the Cavaniglia Pavilion Centrosettantaperottanta, an artistic research project with a site and context specific installation involving women and exploring their lives through personal objects. 

Other special guests at Cavaniglia will be the designer Fabio Novembre and the special project that will see the artists Ercole Pignatelli and Laura Zeni together with Giuliano Sangiorgi (voice of Negramaro), engaged in the creation of a work - Tappeto volante - embellished by Nudi, an unpublished poem by the singer from Puglia. 

Special projects include Giovanni Ronzoni's performance Voi... prigioniere nel bosco delle innocenze... (You... prisoners in the forest of innocence...) - a circular space on the stalls with a diameter of about 9 metres, where 12 "boulders" will be placed with 12 poems by 12 women poets - dedicated to the theme of violence against nature; a sculpture by Paola Crema (Career Award in memoriam) will be on show together with a work by her husband, Roberto Fallani. Of particular interest is the installation by the Milanese artist Enzo Fiore entitled Genesis, who has "reconstructed" Leonardo da Vinci's The Virgin of the Rocks using only natural materials (earth, roots, leaves, insects and epoxy resin on canvas); then there is the Italian-Swedish artist Duilio Forte who proposes Dvlightship II 93941, a sculpture-installation almost five metres wide made of steel, LEDs and with an electronic motor. And while Piero Gilardi's installation is an expression of arte povera, Alfredo Rapetti (son of Giulio, aka Mogol) returns to Florence with a work made of neon and with a title that plays with words: A mare, amare. Among the artists in the Cavaniglia pavilion is sculptress Maria Cristina Carlini, who has created Foresta, a monumental sculpture in reclaimed wood and iron. The work, with its close link to the natural environment and the earth, is a metaphor for Mother Nature and is part of a vision of femininity that is taken back to its origins. The architects present in the Cavaniglia Pavilion include Giulio Ceppi, Massimo Facchinetti, Marcella Gabbiani and Massimo Roj. 

Florence Biennale Media Office