Praestigium Italia

Enrico Ghinato - Il Duomo (2014)



Luciano Benetton, founder of Imago Mundi, explains how the collection came about. “We said: let’s try to look at ourselves from the outside, look at the situation of contemporary art in Italy as if it were any other country. Of course the political twilight does not help, the situation is unfavorable, geopolitics are focused on other areas of the world, but let’s try anyway. Also with a sense of responsibility towards future generations. Let’s recover our awareness of beauty. Let us each play our part and play it well, not linger on lost certainties, let’s break down the barriers of cliques. Let’s try to involve the greats and discover the young, imagine a possible tomorrow. Let’s send a positive signal to the world of what it means to be Italian.”

Robert Gligorov - Cream

The artists, who joined the project with enthusiasm, have focused on the small canvases their idea of art, of Italian art, of Italy. Big names and young talents in the world of painting, but also architects, designers, publicists, musicians, actors, to create a vibrant, generous, democratic mosaic, in the tradition of Imago Mundi. The collection is published in two volumes, each comprising 210 artists, in strict alphabetical order, that "without the vanity of being exhaustive - says Luciano Benetton - tell the story of Italian creativity, combine tradition and personal sensitivity, address topics that range from ecology to the economic crisis, from women’s rights to social uncertainties, to our life in the Internet era.”

Oliviero Toscani - Untitled 27 (2014)

The curator of the collection, Luca Beatrice, dedicated the first volume of Praestigium to the Italian landscape and the second to the Grand Tour. The reference to the Grand Tour, in particular, is evocative because it recalls the idea of Italy as a milestone, a must for anyone who wants to really broaden his or her cultural and artistic horizons. “I imagined myself, with a hint of megalomania, - explains the curator - in the role of the eighteenth century traveller visiting Italy. French, English, Germans admiring the unique splendor of the landscape and, at the same time, that decadent spirit offered by the ancient remains of a past so illustrious as to almost be a burden. Italy as an open-air museum, where styles, stories, ages, generations, overlap to form a unicum, unmatched by any other place on Earth.”

Pietro Ruffo - De Hortus (2014)

It is here that contemporary art pursues its idea of the future. “The artists of Imago Mundi - says Benetton – capture this Italian Wonderland, weakened but not broken, with the proud ambition of reaffirming the belief that talent, ideas, enthusiasm, can help us change direction and choose innovative paths. See things from new perspectives. The collection crosses and connects different disciplines, reflecting a constant and historical dialogue between different languages, from the central element of painting, which the poet Giuseppe Ungaretti called “the first human language.”

Lucio Perone - Perone (2014)

Praestigium covers and represents the entire peninsula: Milan, Rome, Turin but also smaller towns, peripheral but only in a geographic sense: the dynamic provinces that have always fed the cultural debate in Italy, the all too often mistreated South. The role of women is also significant. “In Italy - Luca Beatrice points out - more and more dynamic and tenacious women are exhibiting in museums, participating and winning awards, making their mark on the market. Their work is also rapidly moving on from the issue of gender and standing as a universal element, in fact women (more so than men) manage to strike the note that gives a work universal resonance.” Finally, space is also given to foreigners who have chosen to live and work in Italy, a tradition that continues.