MANIFESTO

#61

ART NOW

FONDAZIONE PRADA

2022.02.22

by MUSE Team

Comprising a selection of photographic, video and performing works by 11 international image-based artists, the exhibition curated by Melissa Harris, will be on view until June 27th, 2022 at the Osservatorio in Milan. 

Curated by Melissa Harris, editor-at-large of Aperture Foundation, where she has worked for more than twenty-five years, including as editor-in-chief of Aperture magazine from 2002 to 2012; the exhibition  explores the notions of the search, projection and invention of possible alternative identities, hovering between authentic, idealized, and universal selves. Playing with gender tropes, stereotypes, sense of place, and future perspectives, the artists who make up “Role Play” interrogate individuality as we know it and as it might be. Since its invention, one of the most suitable visual languages to investigate otherness is undoubtedly photography. 

Exhibition view. Photo: Delfino Sisto Legnani

“ An alter ego, persona, or avatar may be aspirational; it may relate to one’s personal and cultural history and sense of otherness; it may be a form of activism, or a means of maneuvering through entrenched, even polarized positions, toward empathy: putting oneself in another’s shoes.” 

-MELISSA HARRIS

Its evolution and transformation in filmic languages, the widespread diffusion of online social communities and virtual platforms, the future developments of the Metaverse and the subsequent emergence of digital avatars have intensified the urgency to explore self and others through role-playing, reinforcing our obsession with alternative selves. Hence, the alter-ego creation and the proliferation of selves are possible strategies for understanding each individual’s essence and persona.

“Role Play” features works by artists Meriem Bennani, Juno Calypso, Cao Fei, Mary Reid Kelley and Patrick Kelley, Beatrice Marchi, Darius Mikšys, Narcissister, Haruka Sakaguchi & Griselda San Martin, Tomoko Sawada, Bogosi Sekhukhuni, and Amalia Ulman in a light installation project, conceived by the creative agency Random Studio for the two exhibition floors of Osservatorio. 

art paris

AN ACTIVE REALITY

2023.03.30

The French exhibition placed at Grand Palais Ephémère explores the modern and contemporary art language through the study of actual themes that concern deeply the society. 

SWARM

2023.03.29

The miniseries thriller created by Donald Glover investigates the evolution of a human being’s obsession for another person, becoming a reason for living for which even violence seems to be permissible. 

exhibition

SHAPES OF SUBTLE PROVOCATION

2023.03.27

HELMUT NEWTON. LEGACY 

 

Palazzo Reale in Milan hosts the first Italian stage on the international tour of the Legacy exhibition dedicated to Helmut Newton, a revolutionary photographer who transformed fashion into art through his shots.

ART

Cere anatomiche

2023.03.24

FONDAZIONE PRADA 

 

The Cere anatomiche project, conceived in collaboration with La Specola of Florence and the known director David Cronenberg, promotes the interests for the scientific studies through a contemporary artistic vision. 

Photography

THE MAZE OF
A MIND

2023.03.22

The complexity of the human brain and the multiple states of mind of the subjects portrayed in Fryd Frydendahl’s photographs explored in the book Salad Days and the exhibition MAZE – Potential Archives at the Fotografisk Center in Copenhagen.