Inspired by the works by Michelangelo Pistoletto, the exhibition dedicated to Cittadellarte, in the within of the steirische herbst festival 2012, will follow the ideals of dialogue and participation as the starting point for an investigation into the conditions and aspirations of a model of participatory civil society.
The exhibition "Cittadellarte – Sharing Transformation", curated by Katrin Bucher Trantow, Juan Esteban Sandoval and Paolo Naldini, addresses this ideal of participatory work with art understood as an intervention, showing various projects by artists and artist collectives in their desire to create subversive, open and sustainable world models through culture.

 

In the Space01 a small "city of art" (designed and built by the collective constructLab) arises based on the principle of co-acting and co-habiting, which dispenses with the usual artistic and curatorial work, in favour of activist participation, which has played an important role in Michelangelo Pistoletto’s creations since the outset. Pistoletto places the term participation firmly in the centre, defining it as the beginning of all artistic creation. His international career began with the spectacular solo exhibition in Turin in 1967, when, instead of the required pictures, only a boundary stone stood in the gallery, staking out a new artistic terrain in which the artistic collective created works, not the individual. If one wanted to see more, one had to go to Pistoletto’s studio, in order to experience his work in the wider context of his artistic colleagues.

Entirely in the spirit of the steirischer herbst and reflections on political strategies in art, and artistic strategies in politics, the artistic collective in the Kunsthaus Graz also poses the question of connectedness to the world, and so the question of sustainability and the specific in one’s own artistic creation. The basis on which selection is made is thus formed by the history of the Cittadellarte, its network and its past collaborations. In the project Sharing Transformation, they experience a further development, which is coordinated with the house, its function and the city surrounding the house. The artists and the collective in part intervene directly in the "external" city, cooperating with its population as well as its partners.

 

With the participation of: Claudia Bosse/theatercombinat, Leopold Calice, Chimurenga, Cittadellarte, constructLab, Evento, Gudran, Love Difference, ParaArtFoundation (PUF)/El Puente_lab, Dan Peterman, Visible, Vitamin Creative Space

 

A co-production with Cittadellarte, in cooperation with steirischen herbst.

 

Curators: Katrin Bucher Trantow, Juan Estaban Sandoval, Paolo Naldini

Co-curator: Katia Huemer