Thursday 19 May, at the Ex Magazzini Latini in Fabriano, Fondazione Ermanno Casoli opened Panorama, an exhibition offering a reflection on the concept of landscape in its broader sense. The show, curated by the foundation’s artistic director Marcello Smarrelli presents works by artist Ettore Favini in collaboration with Liceo Artistico E. Mannucci of Fabriano, by Andrea Nacciarriti plus an installation entitled Paesaggio sonoro, realized by the architect Giacomo Fava in collaboration with dj Giorgia De Robertis.
The show, under the patronage of the Italian Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities, will be open until 23 May.

Landscape shares a tight connection with history of art and many artists have dealt with this theme. Like art, landscape changes in time, preserving traces of its past but also showing the effects of contemporary times, and of what happens due to our choices or beyond our will. That’s why landscape is always a contemporary topic, and this show, that reflects both physical and cultural aspects, sets out to outline the landscape’s historical and anthropological reality, capable of offering new possibilities of interpretation.

Under this respect, the choice of the exhibition space is highly meaningful. Since after the Second World War, the Ex Magazzini Latini have been a commercial centre and an important point of reference in Fabriano. However, these premises have been abandoned for a long time and the buildings have become a sort of ghostly presence in the historical centre, a non-place: where once were life and activity, now void and silence are all is left.

Panorama intends to give out a message of optimism not only to Fabriano but to the whole national territory, a glorious country that drawing strength from the richness of its past has revived from moments of deep crisis that appeared almost irreversible.

With this initiative Fondazione Ermanno Casoli celebrates the 150° anniversary of the Italian Unification, paying homage to Italian landscape, to its beauty and to its deep wounds, and especially to the territory of Fabriano, so tightly tied to its past history, aware that the strength for reaction can only be found in its past.

The show develops on the first floor with Ettore Favini and Andrea Nacciarriti’s works, and the sound landscape on the second floor.

For Andrea Nacciarriti the show is an occasion to rethink is previous work Less Than Air (2010), made of a number of devices capable of modifying our perception of space: some of the elements that can be found in landscape, like grass and wind, are extrapolated and brought inside a closed setting, simulating country and urban views. The spectator is taken inside this fake and almost cinematographic nature, where he is reached by the sound of moving air and of its clash with objects.

In March Ettore Favini held a workshop entitled Intervallo with some students from Liceo Artistico E. Mannucci di Fabriano, focusing on the conflictual relation between Man and Nature and on the variation of the idea of landscape in different cultural environments; following this experience, Favini designed a layout of a selection of works of the students. In addition Favini will present La verde utopia, a video shot in 2010 that documents his conversation with Gilles Clément, the French landscape artist and anthropologist. During the conversation the two analyse the concept of environmental utopia and critically consider the Darwinian theories, invoking a shared social and politically active commitment.

The installation by Giacomo Fava and Giorgia De Robertis presents a sound representation of landscape, creating an involving and evolving atmosphere, where shapes and sounds surround the viewer with a stimulating and meditative environment. Friday 20 May, at 10 pm, this space will transform into a dj set, entitled Paesaggio sonoro, realized by Giorgia De Robertis aka Dj Starcrazy. With natural sounds and vibrations, mixed with urban sounds and electronic beats, the dj intends to stimulate the audience’s imagination to evocate visions of dream landscapes and underwater worlds.

On this occasion Ettore Favini and Andrea Nacciarriti will realize a site specific work entitled Panorama, which will consist in using pages of the weekly magazine Panorama to completely cover the windows of the Ex Magazzini. This work, whose name gives the title to the whole event, suggests an overall view on the history of our country, so rich of beauty and of contradictions; a view that will highlight the real and authentic landscape in which man moves in, and that he continues to transform with his actions and thoughts.

During the show Gilles Clèment’s book Il paesaggio in movimento, ed. Quodlibet will be on sale in the bookshop.

The show is supported by weekly magazine Panorama and realized with Tecnomatic’s technical support