The bonds between art and science and between art and nature are amongst the oldest and firmest.

The animal and plant world, the secrets of microscopic and macroscopic life, the appearances of the animate and inanimate world, of the finite and infinite have always been at the centre of attention, depicted and used as source of inspiration or reflection for artistic expression; the first inspiration for visual art from primitive times to modernity, and beyond any simple imitation of the “real”.

Nor is contemporary art immune from this tradition of exchanges and relations, although it does stand out for the degree of self-consciousness typical of it, and as part of the intense “Muve contemporaneo” programme created by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia on the occasion of the Venice Biennale 2013, a close comparison and encounter is offered between contemporary art and the permanent collection of the Museo di Storia Naturale di Venezia (Natural History Museum of Venice).

Organised in collaboration with the Associazione Acacia-Amici Arte Contemporanea Italiana and running from 1st June to 24th October, the “Bestiario Contemporaneo. Fra arte e scienze, artisti italiani della collezione Acacia” (A contemporary bestiary. Between art and science, Italian artists from the Acacia collection) exhibition will be hosted in the handsome rooms of the Venetian museum. The exhibition is curated by Gemma De Angelis Testa, President of Acacia, and Giorgio Verzotti, with the scientific direction of Gabriella Belli, Director of the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia.

The exhibition arises from the synergy between public institutions and private collectors that the Associazione Acacia has sought to increase since its foundation in 2003. Acacia is a private association responsive to the cultural problems of Italy. The promotion and support of the art and work of young Italian artists is one of the principal purposes of the association which, with this in mind, is working towards the creation of a collection of Italian contemporary art works.

Today, Acacia’s public commitment teams up with the proposals of the Fondazione dei Musei Civici di Venezia, an institution that is particularly responsive to a collaboration between public and private, able to make best use of the reciprocal points of excellence and features.

After the great success of its Milanese exhibition, in Venice Acacia will be offering a selection of about 30 works of art, which will create an ironic and surprising dialogue with the natural collections of Venice’s natural history museum.

For example, amongst the fearsome stuffed animals, it will be possible to discern Paola Pivi’s Leopardo prowling over a carpet of cappuccini, while Maurizio Cattelan’s Musicanti di Brema will start up their concert.

Aside from these two names, all the artists of the Acacia collection will be present, each of which can boast national or international recognition: Mario Airò, Rosa Barba, Vanessa Beecroft, Gianni Caravaggio, Roberto Cuoghi, Lara Favaretto, Francesco Gennari, Sabrina Mezzaqui, Marzia Migliora, Adrian Paci, Luca Trevisani, Marcella Vanzo, Nico Vascellari and Francesco Vezzoli.

Every expressive form in the visual arts will be represented here, from the most traditional – painting and sculpture – to photography and the more contemporary video and installation.

The common denominator linking all the artists on show is the refusal to consider art as a formal exercise, an empty and purely self-referential exercise.

The spirit running through the young protagonists of the Italian contemporary scene is the striving for all that is new and real, often tinged with a touch of irony, to the point of sometimes becoming an extreme criticism and provocation.

The curators’ selection includes some of the leading exponents of the latest artistic research taking place since the end of the 1980s. These were the years in which what is called the “art system” began functioning in Italy: a new synergy between the public and private sectors which, together, have played a fundamental role in promoting contemporary art. This exhibition is one of the many consequences of a revived vitality in the Italian system. Supported at home, it is easier for artists to gain consensus on the international stage.

The Venetian exhibition can thus be seen as an interesting contribution to a comparison between contemporary art and the natural sciences. Albeit with differing poetics, the works we shall see in the rooms of the natural history museum reveal a number of constants. A curiosity in the formal processes of nature is common, for instance, and these are taken into consideration as models for the creative processes of the artistic languages in a fine example of learning from nature which, however, does not limit itself to mere imitation. Art re-creates nature.

Another constant is the absence of anthropocentric cases: in the thinking of these artists, the human being is not the lord of the world but an integral part of nature; not a centre around whom the created world rotates, and even less the top element in a hierarchy. There is no idealised vision of nature, which is instead seen in its dialectic reality; one including conflict, between animals in the first place, and the more dramatic one for our awareness as being animal and human. Art is a discipline that teaches us to seek a harmonious and positive relationship with nature, but outside any pacifying mythology.

Museo di Storia Naturale
Santa Croce, 1730
Venice 30135 Italy
Ph. 8480 82000 (from Italy)
Ph. +39 041 42730892 (from abroad)
info@fmcvenezia.it
www.visitmuve.it

Opening hours
10am – 6pm (ticket office 10am – 5pm)
Closed on Monday

Tickets
Full price 8,00 €
Reduced price 5,50 €