Online sreenings from Time after Time, Space after Space

Museo del Novecento and Fondazione Furla, as part of the seventeenth Giornata del Contemporaneo (‘Contemporary Art Day’) promoted by AMACI, are holding an online initiative on December 11 on the web platforms of the two institutions, reshowing a number of the performances presented in the Sala Fontana between September 2017 and April 2018 as part of the project  Furla Series – Time after Time, Space after Space, curated by Bruna Roccasalva e Vincenzo de Bellis. 

The performance theme is the fil rouge linking this edition, identified for its nature as both a catalyst and activator of relationships and actions that may give rise to new forms of public involvement and increase the social impact of the museum within its community of reference.

The performances of very diverse artists such as Simone Forti, Adelita Husni-Bey, and Paulina Olowska—called upon to interpret the space of the museum with new productions or reenactments of actions that have marked fundamental stages in their careers—represent a range of approaches to the performative language, reappraising the complex experimentation that has underpinned this form of expression for years.

The performances will be viewable in their complete version only during the day of December 11, 2021, via the links below:

10.00 am – Simone Forti. To Play the Flute

11.30 am – Adelita Husni-Bey. Frangente/Breaker

2.00 pm – Paulina Olowska. Slavic Goddesses and the Ushers

Simone Forti. To Play the Flute
Museo del Novecento, September 21–23, 2017

To Play the Flute is a reenactment of four historic performances that mark fundamental points in Forti’s career: Huddle and Censor (both from 1961), Cloths (1967), and Sleepwalkers (1968). This selection highlights her approach to the interplay of actions and objects, and the key role assigned to sound.
Simone Forti. Born in Florence in 1935, she lives and works in Los Angeles.
For over fifty years now, this Italian-American artist, performer, and choreographer has been a key figure in postmodern dance. From the simple, minimalist movements of her early pieces, especially Dance Constructions (1961)—now in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York—, to improvisations that join words to movement, her work has profoundly influenced contemporary dance and performance practices.
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Adelita Husni-Bey. Frangente/Breaker
Museo del Novecento, January 17-18, 2018

Frangente/Breaker is a three-act performance that unfolds inside and outside the museum spaces, creating a single moment of reflection on the dynamics of perception and the concepts of authority, nationalism, and borders. Beginning with Cementarmato (‘Reinforced Concrete,’ 2018), which activates public interaction with the museum’s permanent collection, the event continues with Sull’Esilio (‘On Exile,’ 2018): a dialogue between Italian teachers and people who have recently migrated to Italy, and concludes with Azione per una Catena Umana (‘Action for a Human Chain,’ 2011), which features two groups of performers competing in Piazza del Duomo to create their own barrier of protection, without ever succeeding. 
Adelita Husni-Bey. Born in Milan in 1985, she Lives and works in New York. 
Utopia, education, rules, and social experiments are key themes of Husni-Bey’s work, which moves between various media and relies on cross-disciplinary collaboration. Taking a participatory approach to performance, the artist organizes complex workshop situations that explore the relationship between the individual and collective spheres.
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Paulina Olowska. Slavic Goddesses and the Ushers
Museo del Novecento, March 6, 2018

Drawing on the work of visionary artist Zofia Stryjeńska (1891–1976), Slavic Goddesses and the Ushers originates as an evolution of the performance Slavic Goddesses – A Wreath of Ceremonies, presented in 2017 at The Kitchen in New York. Slavic godheads, already the subject of the New York performance, are also the protagonists of Slavic Goddesses and the Ushers, in which six mannequins at the center of Sala Fontana wear costumes made by the artist herself from Stryjeńska’s series of paintings titled Bożki słowiańskie (‘Slavic Goddesses’, 1918). Accompanying the audience in their participation in this ceremonial are four guiding figures (ushers), one of whom is impersonated by composer Sergei Tcherepnin, performing his own sound intervention.
Paulina Olowska. Born in Danzig in 1976, she lives and works in Krakow.
Olowska’s artistic practice delves into various media, from painting to performance, often exploring the theme of memory and nostalgia. Drawing inspiration from modernist utopias and the imagery of American and Eastern European pop culture—especially that of Socialist Poland—her works prompt reflection on how cultural models shape our views of feminism and consumerism.
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