Human Silk

EVENT DESCRIPTION

Kwai Fung Salone is thrilled to present????? Human Silk, ?a group exhibition supported by the Consulate General of Italy and Italian Cultural Institute in Hong Kong, as the opening event of ITALIA on STAGE Autumn Festival Hong Kong. It presents three outstanding mid-career artists from Italy, Paola Angelini, Thomas Braida and Nebojša Despotović, all of whom received their education in the city of Venice and have developed their distinguished careers with various degrees of connection to the lagoon city, which inspired the title of the exhibition. From Venice to Hong Kong, China, such cross-continent dialogue connecting the East and West brings to mind Marco Polo and his famous voyage along the Silk Road, a well-travelled record of human histories, connections, civilizations, and cross-cultural exchanges. Approaching contemporaneity through history and heritage, all three artists manifest what we call Human Silk, an attempt to locate the complexity and fluidity of human relations and perception in the flux of time.

This exhibition is our first collaboration with guest curators, Aurora Fonda and Sandro Pignotti, who are both from Venice. With an anthropological overtone, this exhibition delves into the essence of human sensibility, human perception, human art and human treasures. Taking as a point of departure their shared roots in the tradition of twentieth-century European art and their parallel interest in reinterpreting its artistic heritage, this exhibition brings the three artists together for the first time to trace the legacy of Italian and European modernist paintings and offers a fresh look at their role in art history. In conjunction with the exhibition, the two curators will deliver a talk at Tai Kwun’s JC Cube to walk us through the artistic development of Venice as well as the curatorial concept of Human Silk.

Art Talk: From Renaissance to Biennale — Contemporary Art Scene in Venice
Date: Thursday, 12 October 2023
Time: 14:30 – 17: 00
Venue: JC Cube, 1/F, Block 21, Tai Kwun, Central
Language: English, with simultaneous Mandarin interpretation
Register now: rsvp@kwaifunghin.com / 2580 0058

One cannot truly understand the history and development of Western Art without looking at the art and cultural scene in Italy. In particular, from its art historical role during the Renaissance to the Venice Biennale, Venice has been an artistic Mecca that fosters many creative figures, shaping the art world as we know it today.

On the occasion of the ITALIA on STAGE Autumn Festival Hong Kong and the opening of Kwai Fung Salone’s new exhibition Human Silk, we have invited Italian curators Aurora Fonda and Sandro Pignotti to talk about the historical significance of the lagoon city, the role of Venice Biennale in the development of contemporary art, the curatorial concept of Human Silk, as well as their visions for the School for Curatorial Studies Venice. At the same time, the Consul General of Italy in Hong Kong and Macau, Mr. Carmelo Ficarra, will also offer his insight into the development of Italian art and culture in the new generation.

The Art Talk is supported by the Consulate General of Italy and Italian Cultural Institute in Hong Kong.