Villa Grimani Valmarana a contemporary art collective on the inviolability of the body

From April 30 to May 21, 2023, Villa Grimani Valmarana, in Noventa Padovana (Padua), is hosting in its temporary exhibition spaces the contemporary art exhibition Noli me tangere. Of the inviolability of the body, curated by Barbara Codogno and organized by the Municipality of Noventa Padovana, Department of Culture and sponsored by the Veneto Region, IRVV (Istituto Regionale Ville Venete) and the Province of Padua.

Exhibiting artists are Enrica Berselli (Modena); Greta Bisandola (Padua); Marta Czok (Poland); Ruggero D’Autilia (Venice); Tommaso Giusti (Modena); Maurizio L’Altrella (Milan); Nunzio Paci (Bologna); Federica Poletti (Modena); Stefano Reolon (Padua); Silvia Patrono (Padua); Marco Strano (Padua); Roberta Ubaldi (Terni); Marco Vecchiato (Padua); and Elisabetta Vignato (Padua).

Also, tribute to Sergio Rodella and Orlando Tisato with works from the collection of the Municipality of Noventa Padovana.

“This exhibition,” explains Vincenzo Gottardo, Deputy Vice President of the Province of Padua, “is organized in a Venetian Villa, a manifestation of the Serenissima on the mainland. There were many artists who, starting in the 1500s, were called upon by far-sighted and learned patrons to work on these architectural monuments. Three among them: Palladio, Tiepolo, and Veronese. In the Province of Padua alone there are more than 600 Venetian Villas, and we all know how the Brenta Riviera and, especially Noventa Padovana, are flagships of this cultural system. The role of the Province has always been to network, promoting the excellence of the area. The occasion is particularly interesting and auspicious: not only do we reevaluate a precious asset that belongs to our historical baggage, but we do so by giving space to living artists who deal with contemporary painting. A line of continuity that shows us that beauty is still inescapable cultural identity of our territory. I hope that this exhibition will be an opportunity to restart, also to weave that necessary dialogue between municipalities that will put culture back into circulation and with it tourism and the economy.”

“I like to point out that the group exhibition organized at Villa Grimani Valmarana,” stresses Marcello Bano, mayor of Noventa Padovana, “helps us reflect on the actual message conveyed by the historical evidence that we dutifully and lovingly preserve. We are inside a Venetian Villa that has a long history, its architecture reflects the splendor of the Serenissima, and its later use reminds us how places acquire value over time when inhabited by the contemporary. But also by foresight. I also like to think that artists pay homage to this place through their art, driven by an important title, both in terms of inspiration and reinterpretation. This is an important message that Noventa Padovana is happy to welcome and promote. It is particularly significant then that this exhibition finds hospitality in a place conducive to building dialogue between contemporary artists, art and the community. The beauty of art is immortal; it must create sharing, aggregation, reflection. My commitment will always be in this direction.”

“In the furrow of an increasingly evident and necessary contamination,” explains Flora Tibò, councillor for culture of the Municipality of Noventa Padovana, "we will make contemporary figuration dialogue within Villa Grimani Valmarana, which will become even more a place of beauty and artistic figure, open to everyone’s testimony. The exhibition, curated by Barbara Codogno, brings together 14 artists of clear national and international renown. The curator is fresh from the exhibition at the Museo degli Eremitani entitled A riveder le stelle, which was created with the aim of tracing a line of continuity between medieval and contemporary painting with Dante and Giotto as its lighthouse. Noli me tangere moves with the same intent: the phrase, uttered by Jesus in the Gospel of John, is as relevant as ever when declined to respect, nonviolence, and peace in a broad sense. A perspective that unites the different sensibilities of the artists involved. We trust that this initiative can be the first step of a path to be built around the idea of unity in the sign of art, capable moreover of enhancing historically important spaces and today in the limelight as the Venetian Villas are."

Giotto, Hans Holbein, Tintoretto, Claude Lorrain, Nicolas Poussin, Beato Angelico, Titian, Correggio, Guercino, are just a few of the many artists who, from the Middle Ages until today, have paid pictorial homage to the phrase that seals the precise moment in which the risen Christ, still with human features, is transmuting into pure spirit. Recognized by the Magdalene, Christ says, “Noli me tangere.” Phrase first translated to: do not touch me; later to: do not hold me back.

The curator intends to focus attention on the time dilation in which the phrase sculpts the story. Christ’s agony on the cross, the violence to which he was subjected. His human epiphany. Many painters have depicted this Gospel scene as a grazing of fingers that nevertheless never takes place, thus highlighting a space between the bodies: the distance between the hands that becomes the magnetic center of the scene. This is one of the points the artists went to work on: it is necessary to recognize distance as a foundational element to “bring” the other’s body closer. A sacred space that sanctions respect, abolishes grasping and confirms the inviolability of the space occupied by the other than oneself.

“A specifically philosophical and anthropological perspective, which hooks the sacrificial reading of Christ’s putting to death, prompts one to consider the sentence as an unveiling that goes to consolidate the Christian message. Do me no more harm, all possible evil has been done to me. Christ with his death forces us to come to terms with our violent mechanisms: a violence that we act on bodies, on the environment, on nature,” the curator explains. “Yet, Noli me tangere is also the space of the miracle. A transfiguration and resurrection, the creation of a new Man that will happen only if we know how to respect the other, his space. Without doing violence to him. Never.”

Some cultural events accompany the exhibition: on May 7 at 4 p.m. Marco Vecchiato presents L’ ultimo guardiano di aprile, Cleup Editore, to the public. On May 14 at 4 p.m. Stefano Reolon will give an open lecture on drawing; while on May 21 the finissage of the exhibition features Ruggero Chinaglia, psychoanalyst, and writer Maria Antonietta Viero. During and, to follow, a concert with Andrea Ferrari.

The exhibition will be open with free admission on Thursday, Friday and Saturday afternoons from 4 to 7 p.m., and on Sundays from 10 a.m. to noon and 4 to 7 p.m.

Image: Enrica Berselli, Without Human Interference (2023; virgin beeswax, plasticine, botanical findings, pigments, iron, 47x61x18 cm)

Villa Grimani Valmarana a contemporary art collective on the inviolability of the body

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