Share
RSS
Tuscany+
Where to sleep
Where to eat
How to get here
Our proposals
Mobile App
Multimedia
Download
The new exhibition of CCC Strozzina is a reflection of one of the most relevant issues addressed in contemporary art in the US: the idea that since September 11 up to today's financial crisis, society's sense of invincibility and economic and social security has faded. Even since the 1950s many American artists have analysed or criticized the idea of the American Dream: the promise of success and happiness, as the basis of the American way of life, which has been continually fed by the image of Hollywood and the images promoted by the advertising campaigns of multinational corporations, from Coca Cola to Disney.
Today, although the American Dream seems to be in crisis, the optimistic spirit, a capacity for imagination and the wish to continue to believe in a future with a happy ending are still integral parts of the very idea of America.
American artists over several generations have reflected these tensions and feelings in their work, implementing a kind of escape from reality and a refuge into an alternative world that is safe and, above all, controllable. They have created worlds which are based on an aesthetic that is fed by fantastic images and by dreams, mythical creatures or images from the media, but which are also real parallel worlds in miniature that explicitly eschew the 'true' reality for a reality that is successful and radiant, even if only imagined.
For some artists the construction of their own personal fantasy world is a criticism of modern society, but for others it permits the creation of alternative solutions to our problems in which we can rediscover meaning and value which have seemed until now to be lost. A psychological break from reality, or the creation of a better alternative becomes a way to escape real and immediate threats such as high unemployment rates, the dire international financial situation and the apocalyptic predictions for the environment. This escape from reality becomes a way to combat the complex difficulties of the present.
The exhibition is organized by the Palazzo Strozzi Foundation, in collaboration with the Hudson River Museum (New York) and is maintained by Bartholomew F. Bland, Director of Curatorial Affairs, Hudson River Museum.
www.strozzina.org
Opening hours:
Tuesday- Sunday 10.00-20.00
Free entry on Thursday 18.00-23.00
Information and bookings:
tel. +39 055 3917137
didatticastrozzina@strozzina.org
Today, although the American Dream seems to be in crisis, the optimistic spirit, a capacity for imagination and the wish to continue to believe in a future with a happy ending are still integral parts of the very idea of America.
American artists over several generations have reflected these tensions and feelings in their work, implementing a kind of escape from reality and a refuge into an alternative world that is safe and, above all, controllable. They have created worlds which are based on an aesthetic that is fed by fantastic images and by dreams, mythical creatures or images from the media, but which are also real parallel worlds in miniature that explicitly eschew the 'true' reality for a reality that is successful and radiant, even if only imagined.
For some artists the construction of their own personal fantasy world is a criticism of modern society, but for others it permits the creation of alternative solutions to our problems in which we can rediscover meaning and value which have seemed until now to be lost. A psychological break from reality, or the creation of a better alternative becomes a way to escape real and immediate threats such as high unemployment rates, the dire international financial situation and the apocalyptic predictions for the environment. This escape from reality becomes a way to combat the complex difficulties of the present.
The exhibition is organized by the Palazzo Strozzi Foundation, in collaboration with the Hudson River Museum (New York) and is maintained by Bartholomew F. Bland, Director of Curatorial Affairs, Hudson River Museum.
www.strozzina.org
Opening hours:
Tuesday- Sunday 10.00-20.00
Free entry on Thursday 18.00-23.00
Information and bookings:
tel. +39 055 3917137
didatticastrozzina@strozzina.org
