THE SOFT REVOLUTION
Textile Museum of Busto Arsizio, Sala delle Feste and Sala Gemella
With the patronage of the Municipality of Busto Arsizio and the IILA, an Italian-Latin American organization
Event coordinated and promoted by ArteMorbida Textile Arts Magazine
curated by Barbara Pavan
with the collaboration of Mimmo Totaro and Erika Lacava
artistic direction Emanuela D’Amico, consultant Stefano Piperno
Opening Sunday October 9, at 5.30 pm
October 9 to 20, 2022
days and opening hours: from October 9 to 20, 2022, Monday to Saturday 3 pm-7 pm,
Sunday 11 am-6pm
Artists: Elham M.Aghili, Elizabeth Aro, Marion Baruch, Lisa Batacchi, Isobel Blank, Susanna Cati, Camilla Cesarini alias Armadilly, Lea Contestabile, Helvecia Kela Cremaschi, Serena Gamba, Marina Gasparini, Loredana Longo, Clara Luiselli, Ilaria Margutti , Cristina Mariani, Florencia Martinez, Laura Mega, Giulia Nelli, Paola Paganelli, Federica Patera and Andrea Sbra Perego, Elena Redaelli, Maria Jole Serreli, Franca Sonnino, Giulia Spernazza, Mimmo Totaro
THE SOFT REVOLUTION is the exhibition included in the events of the 25th Anniversary of the WTA World Textile Art, the organization founded by Pilar Tobón in 1997, which celebrates its silver jubilee with the 10th International Biennial of Contemporary Textile Art, the most international in its history as it will be held simultaneously in fifteen countries around the world, having as its main headquarters the city of Miami in Florida, with the event at the Miami International Fine Arts, and the “25 ARTISTS WTA” Salons in the various participating countries.
Italy participates in this opportunity for extensive discussion on the different languages of textile art and fiber art – between artists, operators, spaces and events – in the context of contemporary art with the Salone Italia coordinated and promoted by ArteMorbida Textile Arts, which opens at the Textile Museum of Busto Arsizio, Sunday October 9, 2022 at 5:30 pm.
Through the work of several generations of artists from different backgrounds and geographical origins and active in the panorama of Italian – and international – contemporary art, the exhibition tells the revolutionary figure of the language of fiber art. The centuries-old classification of activities related to needle and thread – not least those of spinning and weaving – as minor arts identified with a marginal female universe in patriarchal societies already makes their application in art with a capital A a revolutionary act. The slow but inexorable use as an artistic language started at the beginning of the twentieth century has made evident the communicative and evocative figure as well as the potential as a creative medium to which for generations women secretly entrusted their voice, subtracting it from silence, loneliness and censorship, opening the way to an experimental evolution that has consolidated its exploratory, assertive, rebellious dimension in form as well as in content.
The exhibition itinerary in the Rooms of the Textile Museum unfolds starting from the recent works of historicized artists such as Marion Baruch, Franca Sonnino, Mimmo Totaro, Kela Cremaschi and continues through the works of Elizabeth Aro, Lisa Batacchi, Isobel Blank, Susanna Cati, Lea Contestabile, Serena Gamba, Marina Gasparini, Loredana Longo, Clara Luiselli, Ilaria Margutti, Cristina Mariani, Florencia Martinez, Laura Mega, Paola Paganelli, Federica Patera and Andrea Sbra Perego, Elena Redaelli, Maria Jole Serreli, Giulia Spernazza up to those of young artists such as Giulia Nelli, Elham M.Aghili, Camilla Cesarini alias Armadilly.
The exhibition is organized in collaboration with the Municipality of Busto Arsizio and with the patronage of IILA, an Italian-Latin American organization, which manages the presentation of the project to enhance the weaving of caraguatá or chaguar – a natural fiber – traditionally practiced by the indigenous women of the area of the Gran Chaco.
The exhibition project is curated by Barbara Pavan with the collaboration of Mimmo Totaro and Erika Lacava, with the support of public and private sponsors, and will remain open until October 20, 2022.
