RUFA School of Visual Arts student Wang Yuxiang, with his project “Pensa di uscire” (Think about getting out), as part of the Year of Culture between Italy and China, was the star of the first edition of the Bienniale di Todi. The event is promoted by Diego Costantini’s Tower Gallery.
The winner of the first edition of the Biennale, entirely dedicated to Chinese artists, is the artist Wang Yuxiang. Born in Anhui, China, in 1997, he has been living and working in Rome for some time now, where he is completing his RUFA Master of Arts program in Fine Arts. He has taken part in various collective exhibitions and will hold his first solo exhibition, “Nuoto notturno” (Night Swimming) in 2021. He has been assistant to important artists such as Andrea Aquilanti and Gianni Dessì.
In the project Pensa di uscire, Wang Yuxiang uses rock, steel and wood to build 15 cages. The spectator observes a rock imprisoned in a steel and wood cage, which in turn reflects on how to escape from it. Then another spectator is added, who observes simultaneously “outside the space” and “inside the space”. And here is a third perspective: the rock, the spectator, and the new spectator, the three continue to reflect on the condition of the rock itself. The cage limits, contains or protects the characteristics of its content, helping it to avoid potential dangers outside it.
It is a metaphor for the potential dangers in protecting the dilemma and ambiguous inclusion of the ‘society of the spectacle’.
The work is rooted in the integration of architectural and public space typical of post-Renaissance humanistic thought, reflecting on the relationship between the human and material dimensions. As Leonardo da Vinci said: “art is a mental thing”. The substance of the rock tries to escape from the “form” of a cage composed of another substance, and the rock realises both the cage and itself through constant cognition, thought and metaphysical transcendence.
Friday 11 February the opening ceremony.
Not only will Wang Yuxiang’s installation at the Temple of Santa Maria della Consolazione was unveiled, but also his solo exhibition at Diego Costantini’s Tower Gallery in via Abdon Menecali 2/4 inside the Caetani Tower. The choice of date is not random. 11 February is the World Day of the Sick and the start of the Italy-China Year of Culture and Tourism. The idea of the art dealer and antiquarian Diego Costantini is to bring art back into the open spaces of the city of Todi, with an action that enriches the places with unique and unexpected meanings. The symbol of this action is the Temple of Santa Maria della Consolazione: the place chosen to host, in the space in front of it, a large environmental installation selected by a jury of representatives of the art world which, starting from the “genius loci” of the Temple, will revolve from time to time around the concept of Consolation in its vast interpretations and nuances.
FULL PROGRAMME OF THE TODI BIENNIAL
11 February 2022 at 3 p.m.
Inauguration of Wang Yuxiang’s installation ‘Pensa di uscire’ at the Tempio di Santa Maria della Consolazione in Todi and of the solo exhibition at the Tower Gallery of Diego Costantini
Via Abdon Menecali 2/4 – Todi
Opening the event was a concert by Mongolian singer Ulan Xueling and soprano Laura Toppetti.
12 February 2022 at 10 a.m.
Conference on cultural relations between Italy and China at
Council Hall
Piazza del Popolo 29, Todi
Paolo Sabbatini, Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Brussels, Oliver Glowig, Michelin-starred chef, Yongxu Wang, owner of the AAIEE Center for Contemporary Art in Rome, Andrea Aquilanti, lecturer of the RUFA – Rome University of Fine Arts course in Visual Arts
Exhibition of the two special prizes for the projects
Monuments’ by Wang Jingyun and ‘Legacy/Prediction’ by Peng Shuai
and group exhibition of young Chinese artists at the Sala delle Pietre
Piazza del Popolo 29, Todi
Exhibition of competition projects
in the glass hall of the municipal arcades
Piazza Garibaldi, Todi
PARTICIPANT INSTITUTIONS
Ministero della Cultura Italiana, Regione Umbria, Comune di Todi, La Consolazione E.T.A.B., Associazione Italia Cina, Accademia di Belle Arti di Perugia, Accademia di Belle Arti di Ravenna, RUFA – Rome University of Fine Arts, Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma, Galleria d’Arte Modena “G. Carandente” – Palazzo Collicola, Spoleto, AAIE Center for Contemporary Art, Borgo Petroro, The Marignoli di Montecorona Foundation, Marignoli Contemporary.
