Postmodernism
Style and Subversion 1970-1990
Dal 25/2/2012 al 3/6/2012
The first comprehensive review of art, architecture and design of the seventies and eighties, a period marked by the controversial attempts to define the new cultural landscape since the great seasons of the modern avant-garde .
This exhibition, for Mart, the continuation of research begun with the "Cold War", which set their own time limit to the sixties.
The central theme of the new exhibition initiative is the concept of postmodernism, developed since the early seventies in the European architectural debate, reaching out to influence every area of culture, and in particular the visual arts, film and music industries, the graphic and fashion. This is a crucial point for the cultural events of our country, that Mart deepens and raised in the Italian edition of the catalog with a text by the architect Paul Portuguese.
The exhibition takes its cue from the analysis of a series of radical ideas developed in strong contrast to the orthodoxies of Modernism: a reversal of the concepts of purity and simplicity, to be replaced with new shapes and colors, historical quotes, parodies, but especially with a new sense of freedom associated with architecture and design. Among the modernists, it was rare that the personal style was considered a minor issue compared to the effort to realize a utopian program. For postmodernists, by contrast, style is everything.
"Postmodernism. Style and Subversion 1970 - 1990"
brings together over 200 objects collected in various fields of art, architecture and design.
In the foreground is the "design subversive" by Ettore Sottsass for Memphis Studio, graphics by Peter Saville and Neville Brody, models and architectural renderings like the preparatory drawing by Philip Johnson for the skyscraper AT & T (1978), works by Robert Rauschenberg, Cindy Sherman and Ai Weiwei, the bust of Louis XIV in stainless steel in 1986 by Jeff Koons and the reconstruction of the monumental work of Jenny Holzer's "Protect Me From What I Want" (1983-85); performances and costumes, including "Big Suit" by David Byrne wore in the film "Stop Making Sense" in 1984, extracts from films like "The Last of England" by Derek Jarman (1987), music videos, Laurie Anderson, Grace Jones and New Order, and also surprising items such as dinner services designed by architects such as Zaha Hadid, Frank O. Gehry and Arata Isozaki.
Exhibition organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Mart, Rovereto
25 February 2012 - June 3, 2012
Edited by Glenn Adamson and Jane Pavitt
www.mart.trento.it
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/postmodernism
