The Italian Cultural Institute of Shanghai and the Pearl Art Museum of Shanghai are pleased to present the exhibition Encounter of imagination: dialogue between the Divine Comedy and the Book of Mountains and Seas ( Shanhai jing ) / Encounter of imagination: dialogue between the Divine Comedy and Classic of Mountains and Seas. The exhibition, hosted by the Pearl Art Museum (Aegean Place, 8th floor, 1588 Wuzhong Road), will remain open to the public from November 6, 2021 to February 20, 2022.
The exhibition is a dialogue between the Italian artists Valentina Furian , Marinella Senatore , Marta Roberti , Silvia Camporesi and Leone Contini and the Chinese artists Chai Yiming , Peng Wei , Qiu Anxiong , Shao Yinong , Sun Xun , Wu Jian'an , Wu Junyong , where the sound is that of the language of the imagination inspired by two classic works of Italian and Chinese civilization: the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, which this year celebrates the VII Centenary of his death (1321-2021) and the Book of Mountains and Seas (Shanhai jing), a well-known work in China and written no later than the beginning of the 1st century BC
The five works of the five Italian artists V. Furian ( Ciacco ), M. Senatore ( A salir a le stelle ), M. Roberti ( Bestiary of the other world ), S. Camporesi ( The hidden doctrine ) and L. Contini ( Monte Purgatorio ) excellently represent the artistic trends of contemporary Italy, where dialogue with the past, as in China, is daily.
The five works exhibited are winners of the Cantica21 national competition. Contemporary Italian Art Everywhere published in Italy in the autumn of 2020 and conceived by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Ministry of Culture. The Italian section of this exhibition is entitled Cantica21. Dante Alighieri and Italian Artists , curated by the General Direction of Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture and scientifically coordinated by Fabio De Chirico.
Five Italian lending museums also collaborated in the exhibition, where the five works are kept, namely the Luigi Pecci Center for Contemporary Art, Prato (L. Contini, Monte Purgatorio ); the Central Institute for Graphics, Rome (M. Roberti, Bestiary of the other world ); the Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, Venice (V. Furian, Ciacco ); Museum of Contemporary Art of Lissone, Lissone (S. Camporesi, The hidden doctrine ); Museum of the Twentieth Century and Contemporary of Palazzo Fabroni, Pistoia (M. Senatore, A salir a le stelle ).
The exhibition itinerary is also introduced by the Studium Treccani, where the Institute of the Italian Encyclopedia shows a video with images of the Divine Comedy presented by Prof. Andrea Mazzucchi (University of Naples "Federico II") and the reproduction of four Dante's codices, among the most beautiful for miniatures and historical value.
The works of V. Furian, M. Senatore, M. Roberti, S. Camporesi and L. Contini accompany us along a path that goes from the darkness of darkness to light, a journey that symbolically traces the journey made by Dante in the Divine Comedy .