The new course of the Pecci Center in Prato. New director presents activities

The Pecci Center of Prato presents its new course: the new director, Stefano Collicelli Cagol (Padua, 1978) in fact presented the program that will characterize the Pecci Center in 2022. A program characterized by the enhancement of the museum’s heritage, the promotion of relations with the territory, projects by major international artists, attention to research and accessibility to all audiences. The occasion was also the context for inaugurating the exhibition The Garden of Art. Works, Collections, the first exhibition curated by the newly appointed director in which the Center and the garden, are understood not only as places of care and refreshment but also as spaces of wonder in which to immerse oneself in beauty in all its forms. For the newly appointed director, comparing the Center to a garden underscores the role of art as an essential element for a community, and responds to the need to engage with forms and imagery born in complex historical moments such as the one we are currently experiencing. The Pecci Center’s cultural program for 2022 presents not only exhibitions, but intends to turn its attention to all activities: the Cinema-Auditorium, the Bistrot, the Restaurant, the library and archives, the bookshop, the Urban Center space and the two Educational Laboratories go to make up a complex institution, open to the city and to participation, which allows different types of audiences to enjoy a differentiated museum offer. At the same time, work is under way to exhibit a selection of works from the Pecci Center’s collection on a permanent basis.

“The Pecci Center,” says Stefano Collicelli Cagol, “is a center and not a museum: its is a future-oriented perspective with an interdisciplinary vocation. Fashion, cinema, music, architecture, design, dance, theater, literature and the arts will find space inside the Center intertwining with its activities-such as the cinema, the outdoor arena, the library, the archive, the bistro, the restaurant, the bookhop, the Urban Center and the two teaching laboratories-to improve the well-being of the Prato community and the national and international public that will visit it. Like a sound box from which sound waves are propagated that will attract new realities inside it so the Pecci Center wants to be a hub for the promotion and circulation of contemporary languages in Tuscany, weaving important relationships with the main cultural institutions in the region with which we are already beginning to have fruitful conversations. The main goal remains to establish itself as a national and international center of reference for contemporary creativity, but also to actively involve the community by making the museum a common space.”

The exhibition season

The 2022 exhibition season (spring-summer) of the Luigi Pecci Center for Contemporary Art in Prato, which revolves around the cornerstones of enhancing the museum’s heritage alongside exhibition projects with major international artists, attention to research and design, and accessibility for the community, opens with The Garden of Art. Works, Collections, from March 27 to July 24, 2022, the first exhibition curated by newly appointed director Stefano Collicelli Cagol. The exhibition takes a path through the ten rooms of the museum’s historic wing among works created by Italian and international artists of different generations. The title of the exhibition evokes the image of the museum and the garden, understood not only as places dedicated to care and refreshment but also as spaces of wonder where one can immerse oneself in beauty in all its forms. Populating the art garden are works from the Pecci Center’s collection and private collections-collecting itself is itself an “act of care” for the most diverse objects and ideas-alongside works by a group of emerging artists. From works by Alberto Savinio, Osvaldo Licini, Alighiero Boetti and Alberto Burri, to contemporary artists such as Nan Goldin, Monica Bonvicini, Roni Horn and Marisa Merz, The Garden of Art. Works, Collections presents and makes accessible to the public, in the Center’s spaces, works of great quality, bringing the institution’s attention back to collecting, a theme that will be further emphasized by the future project of remounting the permanent collection.

From May 21 to September 25, 2022, it is the turn of Gruppo 9999. Memories of Techno-Ecology, an exhibition conceived by Stefano Pezzato, head of collections and archives at the Pecci Center, realized by the Pecci Center in close collaboration with the 9999 Archive and Fiumi Studios, conceived and developed by Elettra Fiumi, Margherita Marri and Luigi Savio with the exhibition design by (ab)Normal and CAPTCHA, with video projections by Fiumi Studios. The exhibition is dedicated to a selection of projects by the radical Florentine group 9999. In the historical context straddling Europe’s ’68 and the American counterculture movement, the work of the 9999 group triggers visions that are still relevant today. In their imaginative collages, an ecological thought emerges among the fronds of a cybernetic forest capable of overcoming the “nature-culture” dichotomy through the use of technology as a tool of coexistence instead of extraction. Far from restorative positions of “return to nature,” their projects break into a future-present by deeply questioning the tools of architecture in relation to how we inhabit the planet, suggesting rather than solutions a series of visions toward a new balance between humans, technology and the biological world. The exhibition will be conceived as a forest in which to get lost, where three clearings meet, revealing from a different perspective the fundamental trajectories through which the thinking of the 9999 group forms its position on the subject. Without an order or hierarchy, one will encounter the first section entitled Nature as a Cultural Artifact, with a selection of projects that highlight the non-dichotomous approach between technologyhuman-nature; a second section entitled Landscape-Machine that explores the group’s germinal thinking in understanding architecture not as a formal object but as a network/system/landscape; and a third section titled Architecture of the Black Box that highlights how through a strategy of displacement the group arrives at a germinal thought about anthropocentrism and the ontological problems posed by the computational power of new technologies, noting their magical and obscure nature that leads back to an archaic sense of the sublime. Each of these trajectories will be enriched by a contemporary reading through a series of conversations open to the public that will capture their legacy by opening them up to urgent questions of the present. The exhibition will feature the reprinting of the artist’s book self-published in 1972 in Florence by the group 9999, Ricordi di architettura / Architectural memoirs, the concluding act of a seminal experience that culminated precisely fifty years ago with the prize won by the group at MoMa in New York on the occasion of the historic exhibition Italy: The New Domestic Landscape.

Also on view from May 21 to Sept. 25 is Schema 50. A Gallery Among the Neo-Avant-Garde (1972-1994), an exhibition conceived by Stefano Pezzato and realized by the Centro Pecci in close collaboration with Raul Ernesto Dominguez, co-founder of Schema and director of the Fondazione Alberto Moretti / Galleria Schema in Carmignano (Prato), with archival research by Desdemona Ventroni. This is a selection of original works and archival documents to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Schema Gallery (1972 - 1994), an original research space for national and international neo-avant-garde movements in Florence, on the centenary of the birth of its founder, artist Alberto Moretti (Carmignano, Prato, 1922 - 2012). This is the first museum exhibition entirely dedicated to the experimental activity of Schema Gallery and, contextually, to the conceptual, anthropological and political work elaborated by Alberto Moretti. The exhibition project follows recent exhibitions dedicated to museum collections of radical architecture, of which Galleria Schema has been among the promoters in Italy; it is also reconnected to the presence of the Archive of Mario Mariotti, an artist who has exhibited several times at the gallery, and to the recent acquisition of the Archive of Lara Vinca Masini, a militant critic and attentive to independent artistic experiences such as Schema’s, as well as a friend and associate of Alberto Moretti for more than half a century. A study day on the activities of Schema Gallery and Alberto Moretti’s coeval artistic practice, with historical accounts and new critical contributions, will be organized in conjunction with the exhibition. The documentation of the exhibition and the day of studies will flow into a monographic publication, the first survey completely dedicated to Schema’s experience and the research of its founder. Founded by the artist Alberto Moretti together with Roberto Cesaroni Venanzi and Raul Ernesto Dominguez, Schema Gallery was inaugurated in Florence in February 1972 with an anthological exhibition by the Superstudio group of radical architects, who were also the authors of the layout of the exhibition space located on Via della Vigna Nuova. Since its opening, Schema has stood out for its bold exhibition proposals, contributing, through its editorial production, to the renewal of the usual instruments of artistic information and communication. A research space strongly oriented toward the promotion of national and international neo-avant-gardes, attentive to coeval experimentation in the fields of theater, film and music, until its closure in 1994 the Schema Gallery organized exhibitions and events focused mainly on conceptual and postconceptual art, radical architecture, performance and happenings, and anthropological and political art, which it accompanied with public initiatives also of a theoretical nature such as meetings, seminars and book presentations, organized with the active participation of artists (among them Giuseppe Chiari, Jannis Kounellis, Gino De Dominicis, Vettor Pisani) and the involvement of critics and scholars (Eugenio Battisti, Achille Bonito Oliva, Lara-Vinca Masini, Filiberto Menna, Ermanno Migliorini, among others).

Finally, from September 16, 2022 to January 8, 2023, it is the turn of Massimo Bartolini. Hagoromo, curated by Luca Cerizza with Elena Magini, a major exhibition dedicated to Massimo Bartolin. Realized in partnership with Intesa Sanpaolo, it presents a new installation-the largest ever created by the artist-especially conceived for the museum’s spaces, a sort of new spine that guides the viewer to discover works belonging to different moments of his career. Eschewing retrospective, chronological and thematic organization, the exhibition functions as an itinerary made up of surprising and revealing encounters. Hagoromo is the title of a well-known Japanese Noh theater play that tells the story of a fisherman who one day finds hagoromo, the feathered cloak of the tennin, a female celestial spirit of supernatural beauty part of Japanese mythology. When asked by the spirit to get back the mantle without which she would not be able to return to heaven, the fisherman replies that he would give it to her only after seeing her dance. Hagoromo (1989) is also the title of what Bartolini considers his first mature work: inside his old studio, on a lighted stage, a musician improvises music for saxophone. A dancer reacts to the music, moving inside a parallelepiped on wheels, which has the appearance of a tiny living unit. Already anticipated in this performance are some of the themes and characters that still accompany his research today: the narrative dimension, which develops from homages, references, and withdrawals from other histories, works and biographies; the relationship with the architectural and spatial dimension; the relationship with the theatrical and performative dimension, including through the use of sound and music; and the delineation within the work of relationships between seemingly irreconcilable opposites. The exhibition is accompanied by Hagoromo: Massimo Bartolini 1989-2022, the most extensive publication ever dedicated to the Tuscan artist. Edited by Luca Cerizza and Cristiana Perrella, and published by NERO, the volume is a project realized thanks to the support of the Italian Council (10th edition 2021), a program for the international promotion of Italian art of the General Directorate for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture.

Pecci Books Center

Among the museum’s activities also in 2022 continues with a new edition Centro Pecci Books - Dialogues on the Writings of Today, the series of events that the Pecci Center dedicates to the in-depth study of contemporary literature and storytelling through its protagonists. The fluid form of the meetings, always held on Thursdays at 6 p.m., is remodeled according to the guests, becoming from time to time a meeting, talk, lecture, reading or interview, with the novelty this year of being hosted in the Cinema Hall, which is accessed by crossing the new Bistrot. Meetings with authors from the Italian literary scene are accompanied by the presentation of their new publications and provide an opportunity to explore their themes and poetics, while still maintaining a focus on contemporary art with the most prestigious critics in the field. The program of Centro Pecci Books 2022 features appointments on women and gender identity, the new entry of auteur comics, film (in tandem with Centro Pecci Cinema) and theater texts, and the first initiatives in collaboration with the Urban Center just inaugurated by the City of Prato and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts in Tuscany on the ground floor of the Pecci Center. The 2022 edition also lays the groundwork for important joint ventures and collaborations-which will be developed in the fall and throughout 2023-with La Città dei Lettori Festival, Lucca Comics&Games, MyMovies, and Un Prato di Libri.

Centro Pecci Books 2022 was inaugurated on Feb. 24 by Enrica Tesio in dialogue with Gabriele Ametrano (director of the Festival “La Città dei Lettori”), followed on March 10 by the first appointment with “auteur comics” - Zuzu in dialogue with Giovanni Russo of Lucca Comics & Games - and on March 17 by the Centro Pecci Books-Centro Pecci Cinema event with the D’Innocenzo Brothers, an entire day dedicated to a retrospective of their three films and the presentation of Trilogy in dialogue with Gianluca Guzzo, editorial director of MyMovies. Finally, on March 24, an incredible tour of Italian museum storerooms with Il Tesoro Invisibile - Viaggio nell’Arte custodita nei depositi dei musei italiani by Filippo Cosmelli and Daniela Bianco in dialogue with Stefano Pezzato, head of the Centro Pecci Collection and Archives. Centro Pecci Books began in February 2019 with Alessandro Baricco and his then-freshly published The Game and, in its subsequent editions, involved important guests from the literary and publishing scene such as Francesco Piccolo, Michele Serra, Annalena Benini, Francesco Bonami, Gianrico Carofiglio, Sandro Veronesi, Viola Ardone, Francesco Guccini, Vincenzo Trione, Melania Mazzucco, Giorgio Fontana, Edoardo Nesi, Teresa Ciabatti, Nicoletta Verna, and Marta Barone. The last edition (October-December 2021) was attended by: Emanuele Coccia, Vera Gheno, Flavio Caroli, Salvatore Settis, Stefano Bartezzaghi and Pietro Castellitto.

Pecci Cinema

As it has done since its opening, the Cinema room of the Luigi Pecci Center for Contemporary Art will also in the coming months pay attention to the most interesting filmmakers on the international scene and especially to those, young and old, who try to experiment and do research, aware that Cinema is a great Art of contemporaneity; it will host masterpieces from Cineteca, with the programming of restored films from the Cineteca di Bologna, as well as organize Focuses in which we will meet directors who will come to present their works or critics who will help us better understand films and authors who are protagonists of our programming. Audiences will also be able to take advantage of the bar service, which will always be open during theater hours.

Educational activities

Pecci aims to be a museum that is increasingly accessible to groups, schools, families and special audiences. In the wake of the legacy of artist and designer Bruno Munari - the Pecci Center’s education consultant since 1988 - the museum’s second educational classroom, dedicated to teenagers and adults, reopens for activities as part of the re-functionalization of the ground floor of the Gamberini building for public services: the Cinema-Auditorium, the Bistro, the Urban Center space and the two Educational Laboratories create a pleasant and relaxing environment that allows the various audiences to safely enjoy the differentiated museum offerings. The Pecci Center becomes increasingly accessible to groups, schools, families and special audiences to whom it offers a range of activities. Centro Pecci in famiglia is an integrated program of visits, educational workshops and cinema for families with children from 0 to 11 years old and teenagers. Just concluded successfully the first experimental course of the project First Thousand Days of Art. Art for mothers-to-be and new parents, designed to contribute to the well-being of pregnant women and new parents with their children up to 2 years old.

The Pecci Center is a partner in the project Collecting Experiences. Adult tours and family activities of the Pratomusei network: from March to May there are 8 guided tours for adults and 16 workshops for families with children aged 3 to 11 in the network’s museums. The museum is involved in art education in schools of all levels and in the fight against school dropout: it participates in the Ciel’inCittà projects, co-financed by the social enterprise Con i Bambini, and Nessuno Escluso by OxfamItalia with a workshop by artist Sara Leghissa dedicated to training teachers on youth leadership and active citizenship projects. The Education Department creates paths dedicated to the sensory and cognitive accessibility of the collections. The Pecci Center is a point of reference for activities dedicated to people with fragility: since 1993 the Expressive Activities Workshop has been active every week, in collaboration with the Adult Mental Health Service of the USL - Toscana Centro, carried on also during the lockdown months. The museum is a partner in the regional Musei&Alzheimer’s network and offers pathways for people with Alzheimer’s and their caregivers, in RSAs and families.

Pictured: a room in the exhibition The Garden of Art. Photo by Ela Bialkowska - OKNO Studio

The new course of the Pecci Center in Prato. New director presents activities

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