La rivoluzione siamo noi. Arte in Italia 1967-1977

As part of the CAMERA DOPPIA exhibition format, CAMERA – Centro Italiano per la Fotografia presents La rivoluzione siamo noi. Arte in Italia 1967–1977, curated by Ludovico Pratesi and organised and promoted by Archivio Luce Cinecittà in collaboration with CAMERA: an exhibition that sets out to recount the evolution of art in Italy from 1967 to 1977, through the rich photographic documentation provided by photographers of the standing of Paolo Mussat Sartor, Paolo Pellion and Claudio Abate, providing a direct and participatory look at the events that redefined the very canons of international contemporary art.

In this period, in the wake of the protests of 1968, art left the galleries and museums in order to come into contact with everyday life, often with works closely linked to the profound social and political changes taking place, which also materialised in its continuous and increasingly frequent contaminations with theatre, cinema, literature and poetry.

At this historical juncture, photography became indispensable for narrating and documenting otherwise ephemeral practices. Through 150 images from the archives of the galleries and photographers who participated in these events, portraying exhibitions, performances, debates and actions, the exhibition recounts the evolution of an international scene of which Italy was the hub of the artistic culture of the day. Paolo Mussat Sartor and Paolo Pellion recount the adventure of Arte Povera in Turin, in the Sperone, Tucci Russo and Christian Stein galleries. Claudio Abate documents the art scene in the capital, with the exhibitions and actions at the L’Attico Gallery and the Vitalità del Negativo and Contemporanea exhibitions in 1971, set up in the underground car park of Villa Borghese in 1973, with the participation of international European and American artists, ranging from George Segal to Robert Rauschenberg, and from Ben Vautier to Christo. In Naples, home to one of the greatest Italian photographers of the second half of the 20th century, Mimmo Jodice, also featured in the show, Lucio Amelio’s Modern Art Agency hosts the performances of the shaman artist Joseph Beuys, while Studio Morra stages performances by Marina Abramovic and Hermann Nitsch, playing on the relationship between body, violence and sacrifice. A journey through images encompassing three Italian cities that embraced the avant-garde, marking out the rhythm of the exhibition, via images that allow us to discover and understand the great cultural ferment of that period.

The exhibition comes in the wake of the release of La rivoluzione siamo noi. Arte in Italia 1967–1977, the documentary by Ilaria Freccia, devised by Ludovico Pratesi, produced by the Istituto Luce-Cinecittà.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a volume co-published with Luce Archivio\Marsilio Arte.