A great Marble Weeks in Carrara this year.

Article originally published on culturainrivera.it

I have been following, somewhat from a distance and somewhat bored, the controversy triggered by Paris Mazzanti, former director of Internazionale Marmi e Macchine, regarding the 2016 edition of Marble Weeks, the art and design event that has characterized the summers in Carrara since 2008. Somewhat bored, because the controversy seemed to me as specious as ever: in essence, Mazzanti’s accusation against the city administration, published in the columns of the Tirreno newspaper, would be that of having made “provincial” an event that would have been, until 2013, “of international level.”

From Paris Mazzanti’s analysis, however, the real point of the matter struggles to emerge (indeed: it does not emerge at all): the vision that animates Marble Weeks has changed radically. Even simply reading this year’s program (a high-level program: and Carrara really needed it) one can see how the 2016 edition focuses more on the artistic and cultural aspect than on the business aspect that had instead connoted previous editions, at least until 2014. In other words: the Marble Weeks of past years, which could count on substantial input from the stone industries, had become a sort of “showcase” of the projects of local companies. On the quality of these projects, which were mainly concerned with design and architecture, there is obviously nothing to object to, and on their international scope (since they were often the result of collaborations between realities from different countries) one cannot find fault.

However, one must ask what is the point of an event that should be designed for the city. A huge open-air showroom contrived with the not-so-subtle intention of allowing marble companies to flaunt their amazing feats to the citizens, or an exhibition whose main purpose is to promote culture? In other words: an extension, albeit artistic, of Marmotec, or an opportunity for in-depth study?

That the past editions had a distinctly advertising character was implicitly admitted even by Zubbani himself, who in 2014, in an interview with the Tirreno newspaper in which he was asked whether Marble Weeks and similar initiatives could “bring the quarries closer to the city,” answered by candidly admitting that “spot actions are not enough to put all consciences at peace.” Yeah: too bad that in that same year there was not much tolerance for actions aimed at making people think, because the only work that could have been an important moment of “alternative” insight, namely Robo and Buffoni’s Marble R.I.P. installation, was dismantled in a very short time.

This year, things have changed. And for the better, in my view. Not only because “dissent” no longer has the need to rely on isolated voices, since it has found, for the past year, a structure that can count on at least a minimum level of organization (thePermanent Assembly), which guarantees programs and events that add up to those promoted and sponsored by the institutions (I cite, just as anexample, last year’s Carrara si fa bella festival, and Cinema Baluardo this year), but also because the institutional events themselves have finally lost much of the markedly commercial and promotional patina that had characterized them in the past.

This year we have a “direction” entrusted to the culture office of the Municipality of Carrara, with the collaboration of theAcademy of Fine Arts (and it was about time that the city’s institute, too, could play a real starring role in thewithin Marble Weeks) and the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Carrara (which last year pleasantly surprised us with the exhibition Pittura fra Toscana e Liguria nel ’600 and which this year has replicated, albeit a bit more subdued, with an interesting retrospective on Giuseppe Pezzica), and the program, focusing mainly onart and theater, is quite rich. We have a main event consisting of the exhibition of Daniel Spoerri, an artist of international caliber (whatever Paris Mazzanti may think of him) who needs little introduction; we have the exhibitions of Andrea Aquilanti and Maura Banfo, two artists more than used to exhibiting around the world in high-level festivals (Aquilanti also exhibited at the Venice Biennale); we have the Parkour review that showcases, around the city, the works of the most talented local artists (and there’it must be said that past editions of Marble Weeks had never managed to properly enhance the local artistic fabric that represents one of Carrara’s real added values), there is the exhibition of young artists from the Academy, there is theater by Moni Ovadia, Paolo Rossi, Massimo Wertmüller, there are several other events. What’s more, in addition to the initiatives of the Permanent Assembly, we can count on the Palazzo Cucchiari exhibition on the Grand Tour that will open on Saturday, theexhibition A Saucerful of colors organized by the Teké Gallery, and several events set up outside the institutional context but that are succeeding in resurfacing Carrara’s artistic vocation.

Perhaps Marble Weeks will not be an “international” event as Mazzanti intends it to be, and certainly Carrara will not draw masses of jubilant tourists from all over the world, but it is certainly really reductive, as well as not corresponding to the true quality of the protagonists, to speak of a “provincial event.” Paris Mazzanti would therefore do well to take up the invitation of the Academy’s director, Lucilla Meloni, who suggested that he visit the exhibitions of a Marble Weeks that, I reiterate, has stripped itself of its “promotional” character to achieve a very different and much higher cultural profile. Of course, probably this year’s edition, given also the abrupt change of direction, with fewer “outdoor” events and with a definitely less “pop” offer, will not reach the numbers of previous years, also because the promotion and communication machine that the industries were able to set up was more effective and more organized than that of the administration. But we finally have a Marble Weeks that really tries to do culture. After all, isn’t that the goal that an event designed for the city should have?

Carrara Marble Weeks 2016

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