A Taste of Florence in Berlin

Since 1905, the Villa Romana in Florence has welcomed contemporary German artists. On the occasion of the Day of Giornata del Contemporaneo - Italian Contemporary Art, the Italian Embassy in Berlin presented the work of nine of them.

The Villa Romana was founded in 1905 by artists to accommodate all forms of artistic expression and to promote intercultural relations and exchange. In the outskirts of Florence, the neo-classical Villa has 40 rooms and 15,000 square meters cresting an artist’s residency house. The same year the Deutscher Künstlerbund, a national German Artists' Association, initiated the Villa Romana Prize. The Deutsche Bank has been the Villa Romana's main sponsor since the 1920‘s.

The artists from various backgrounds and nationalities presented their work along with accompanied lectures, which reflected on the multiculturality of art and the use of art as a language that conveys universality.

One of the most impacting artworks was Fraktur by the Korean, Jeewi Lee. In order to recreate the fracture between North and South Korea she filled the exhibition’s space with two different fields made by black and white stones. The aim was to let people break the separation by moving the stones. It ended up by demonstrating how people react to perceived boundaries. In other words, the artwork can be seen as a social experiment.

Keeping the focus on the social environments, we found that Giacomo Zaganelli’s artwork Non a tutti piace l’erba, was equally interesting. Inspired by rehabilitated buildings in Berlin, he tried to do the same in Florence.

We were very grateful to the Italian Embassy in Berlin for opening their doors to us and giving the audience an opportunity to explore some international artistic creations from Florence, which promoted intercultural relations and exchange.

• - https://www.villaromana.org/front_content.php
• - https://ambberlino.esteri.it/ambasciata_berlino/it/