Opera Viva Barriera di Milano 2020: Maïmouna Guerresi's billboard in pandemic times
The 2020 edition of Opera Viva Barriera di Milano, il Manifesto, curated by Christian Caliandro and promoted by Flashback – l’arte è tutta contemporanea, opens with a photograph by Italian-Senegalese artist Maïmouna Guerresi titled Rubber Tire, First Lesson. The project, conceived by Alessandro Bulgini, uses a billboard at the Piazza Bottesini roundabout in Turin's Barriera di Milano district. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Italy's lockdown, the public artwork is now experienced individually rather than collectively, as people only leave home for necessities. Guerresi's image, part of her M-eating series begun in 2012, depicts an African teacher giving a lesson to her students with a tire on the table, creating ambiguity between togetherness, communication, and isolation. The planned inauguration was canceled. The project runs until April 12, 2020.
Key facts
- Opera Viva Barriera di Milano, il Manifesto 2020 edition features Maïmouna Guerresi's photograph Rubber Tire, First Lesson.
- The project is curated by Christian Caliandro and promoted by Flashback – l’arte è tutta contemporanea.
- The billboard is located at the Piazza Bottesini roundabout in Turin's Barriera di Milano district.
- The work is part of Guerresi's M-eating series started in 2012.
- The pandemic has transformed the public artwork's reception from collective to solitary.
- The inauguration was canceled due to the lockdown.
- The project runs until April 12, 2020.
- Alessandro Bulgini is the creator of the Opera Viva Barriera di Milano project.
Entities
Artists
- Maïmouna Guerresi
- Alessandro Bulgini
- Christian Caliandro
Institutions
- Flashback – l’arte è tutta contemporanea
- Artribune
Locations
- Torino
- Turin
- Italy
- Piazza Bottesini
- Barriera di Milano
- Pove del Grappa