CSAC Parma’s 1968 Timeline Exhibition

The CSAC (Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione) in Parma presents a comprehensive exhibition on the year 1968, running from January 1 to December 31, 2019. Located in the ancient abbey that houses the archive, the show features a long timeline in the central nave, juxtaposing local events in Parma with global historical moments. The timeline displays photographs, magazines, design objects (such as Olivetti typewriters and Brionvega radios), theatrical costumes, and film sets, alongside documentary sequences of key events. The exhibition aims to offer a reflection on time and synchronicity, presenting multiple perspectives rather than a single narrative. Curators describe it as a series of contradictions, comparisons, and new perspectives emerging from the analysis of 1968. Side chapels delve into themes like urban transformation, language and politics, and body modification, highlighting the archive's academic ties to the university. The exhibition emphasizes context over individual masterpieces, with materials selected from CSAC's extensive collections. The dense intellectual approach may overwhelm visitors, but it intentionally captures the rapid transformations of the era through ideas, utopias, works, and projects across diverse fields.