Mark Nash curates 'Viva l’Italia' film exhibition for Arte Fiera 2017 at Bologna's Museo Archeologico

For the 2017 edition of Arte Fiera, new director Angela Vettese has commissioned independent curator and writer Mark Nash to organize the fair's off-site exhibition, titled 'Viva l’Italia,' at the Museo Archeologico in Bologna. The show features monumental screens displaying films such as Pier Paolo Pasolini's 'Teorema,' Alberto Grifi's 'Verifica Incerta,' Roberto Rossellini's 'Le Centre Georges Pompidou,' and Bernardo Bertolucci's 'Partner.' This marks a departure from the previous edition curated by Claudio Spadoni and Giorgio Verzotti, which celebrated the fair's 40th anniversary with works by artists tied to Bologna and Arte Fiera, including Giorgio Morandi, Luigi Ontani, and Flavio Favelli. Vettese's new direction eschews local identity ties, focusing instead on a broader international perspective. The exhibition addresses social, political, and conflict themes through cinema and documentary, concentrating on the 1960s and 1970s. The selection challenges the stereotype of Arte Fiera as more focused on modern art and less experimental than fairs in Milan and Turin. The show is part of a broader program including talks by Chiara Vecchiarelli and the 'Corpo Sensibile' lecture series by Marco Bertozzi at MAMBO. The article questions whether the focus on the 1960s-70s reinforces an outdated international perception of Italy.