22 May 2019

OUTDOOR: l’arte esce dal Museo Novecento

The project for the circulation and enhancement of the works of the civic collections conceived by Sergio Risaliti enters the Sollicciano District House of Florence

The works of art leave the perimeter of the Museum and are presented in a context different from that of the museum. This is the spirit with which the Outdoor project was born last year, conceived by the artistic director of the Museo Novecento Sergio Risaliti and created by the Museo Novecento, the Municipality of Florence and the MUS.E Association (thanks to the contribution of the technical sponsors Apice Firenze Srl, MagJlt and Rossella Lari) After having brought paintings and sculptures from the civic collections into numerous Florentine schools, the Museo Novecento is now ready to bring the inmates of the Sollicciano Prison of Florence closer to art. Outdoor thus becomes part of the Educating for beauty project: getting to know the Florentine Museums already started by the CPIA1 school (Provincial Center for Adult Education) and sees the participation of inmates and inmates enrolled and attending school courses in the penitentiary.

With a view to enhancing the value of contemporary artistic heritage, even outside the walls of the Ex Leopoldine, the Museo Novecento has organized a series of initiatives aimed at recounting and re-reading the artists and the works of its collection.

On Tuesday 21 May, two works from the Florentine civic collections were introduced inside the prison – Renato Paresce “The house and the ship” (1931, tempera on cardboard) and Severo PozzatiMaternity” (1917, bronze) – which prisoners were able to appreciate and “study” thanks to the support of a restorer, involved in the project, and of a cultural mediator of the MUS.E Association who gave an introduction to each artist’s work and activity. It is the first time that valuable modern art works such as those by Paresce and Pozzati have crossed the walls of a prison to meet the gaze of people, such as prisoners, who are also forced into isolation from cultural life.

The project will then continue with visits to hospitals, libraries, institutions for the elderly, companies and private homes. Similar occasions arise with the intention of enhancing the work and encouraging awareness of modern and contemporary art, offering attendees the opportunity to come face to face with some of the masterpieces present in the civic collections.