“S.T.”
Jannis Kounellis
Arsenal, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
Opening: 17, April 2012
Until May 20th , 2012
The NCCA in cooperation with RAM radioartemobile presents the exhibition of Jannis Kounellis in the Nizhny Novgorod. An Italian artist of Greek origin, he was one of the founders of Arte Povera, the avant-garde art movement emerged in Italy in the late 1960s. Artists involved in this movement created installations of natural and industrial objects – of a simple, ephemeral, “poor” material.
Having contributed to the emerging and formation of Arte Povera, in recent years Jannis Kounellis turned to the problems concerned with the role of the artist and the civic mission of the art in contemporary society. His works are imbued with the high lyricism and have an austere form; they reflected the whole history of art – from antiquity to the historical avant-garde of the twentieth century and the present. S.T. – a new ambitious project by Kounellis designed specially for Moscow /Red October/ and Nizhny Novgorod /Arsenal/.
The first personal exhibition of Jannis Kounellis in Russia took place in 1991 at the Central House of Artists. That exhibition, as acknowledged by many professionals, had a deep stimulating impact on development of contemporary art in Russia. Twenty years later Jannis Kounellis arrives in Moscow again. “In 1991, his art affirmed the absolute value of the material and those of its forms which determine man’s life. In the new project “S.T.” (that presumably means “senza titulo” – “untitled”) the unique artistic and life experience of Jannis Kounellis are fully revealed, including his personal coordinates, as well as those of many human fates, and the figurative image of our civilization. “S.T.” lays bare the installation in all its ascetism, strictly within the tradition of “arte povera’, and at the same time “S.T. outstrips any borders and enters the land of conceptualism and the universal artistic spaces and senses.” (Vitaly Patsukov). According to the artist “there is a whole universe behind each artwork”.
Jannis Kounellis is still one of the most influential artists in the world. His artworks can be found in the collections of major museums such as the Centre Pompidou (Paris), Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), Guggenheim Museum (New York), MoMA (New-York), Tate Gallery (London) and many others.
Organizers:
National center of contemporary art /Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod/
RAM radioartemobile
PATROAGE
Embassy of Italy in the Russian Federation
The Italian institute of culture in Moscow
Curator: Mario Pieroni
Press preview will take place on the 17, April 2012 at 18.00.
Opening and Artist’s Talk will take place on the 17, April at 19.00
Open daily except Mondays, from 12.00 till 20.00
Contact information
n: (831) 423 5741 (information), (831) 422 7 555 (press), ncca@art.nnov.ru, www.ncca.ru/nnovgorod
