11 Nov 2008

FONDAZIONE NICOLA TRUSSARDI presents Tino Sehgal

Fondazione Nicola Trussardi is proud to present the first major exhibition in Italy of Tino Sehgal in the historical rooms of Villa Reale (Royal Villa), one of the most spectacular buildings in the heart of Milan. Thanks to the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Villa Reale opens its doors to contemporary art for the first time.

With its salons decorated with neo-classical frescos and Imperial style furniture, Villa Reale is one of the city's best examples of 19th century architecture and has been the house of many prominent figures throughout the history of the city of Milan. Napoleon himself lived in this building. Today Villa Reale hosts one the most important art collections in Italy with masterpieces by Antonio Canova, Andrea Appiani, Medardo Rosso and the iconic painting Il Quarto Stato (1901) by Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo, along with works by Cezanne, Morandi, the Futurists and many others.

The Fondazione Nicola Trussardi has invited the British born, German based artist Tino Sehgal to stage his choreographies and situations in the monumental spaces of the villa. This exhibition brings together the most ambitious and complete selection of Sehgal's oeuvre to date, including new pieces presented along with some of the artist's most important works.

Tino Sehgal is one of the most radical artists of his generation. His work is an attempt to create an art without objects that only exists as a set of gestures and oral instructions carried out by trained interpreters for the entire duration of the exhibition. His work immerses the audience in uncanny situations and intricate choreographies executed by dancers, children, extras, museum guards and art world professionals. Tino Sehgal acts like the director of a role game, in which gestures and bodies are used to construct tableaux vivants of surreal beauty.

A visit to a Tino Sehgal's exhibition consists of a sequence of encounters with people knotted in sensual embraces and human sculptures wriggling on the floor as if caught in a hysteric frenzy. Other times Sehgal's compositions function as scripted pieces of chamber theatre, in which viewers and actors are invited to exchange views, experiences and other forms of knowledge. Installed within the stucco and the golden framed mirrors of Villa Reale, Sehgal's choreography take on a ghostly presence but can also be read as carefully rehearsed conversation pieces of a new rococo.

Joyful as a celebration and repetitive as a mysterious ritual, Sehgal's work is also a reflection on the value and the space of art. His work only exists as an oral tradition, a legend, a story that cannot be photographed or illustrated: Tino Sehgal's peculiar form of sculpture betrays an ascetic, ecological tension, as it tries to exist in the world without leaving any trace.

After the retrospective by Peter Fischli & David Weiss installed in the magnificent spaces of Palazzo Litta, the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi continues its commitment to produce works by today's most interesting artists for the forgotten monuments of the city of Milan. Searching for new occasions to connect contemporary art with new audiences and unusual spaces, the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi is a private non-for-profit institution that commissions and produces new works by contemporary artists for the historical and public sites of the city of Milan. Since 2003 the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi has organized exhibitions with, among others: Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset, Darren Almond, Maurizio Cattelan, John Bock, Urs Fischer, Anri Sala, Paola Pivi, Martin Creed, Pawel Althamer, and Peter Fischli & David Weiss.
More on www.fondazionenicolatrussardi.com.

In collaboration with Villa Reale, Galleria d'Arte Moderna and Comune di Milano.