Ludovico Pratesi

We are the revolution. Art in Italy 1967-1977

As part of the exhibition format DOUBLE ROOM, ROOM - Italian Center for Photography presents The revolution we are. Art in Italy 1967-1977, curated by Ludovico Pratesi and organized and promoted by Archivio Luce Cinecittà in collaboration with CAMERA, an exhibition that aims to tell the evolution of art in Italy from 1967 to 1977, through a rich photographic documentation created by photographers of the caliber of Claudio Abate, Mimmo Jodice, Paolo Pellion, Paolo Mussat Sartor offering a direct and participatory look at events that have redefined the canons of international contemporary art.
In this period, driven by the protests of '68, art leaves galleries and museums to come into contact with everyday life, often with works closely linked to the profound social and political changes taking place, which are also concretized in the continuous and increasingly frequent contaminations with theater, cinema, literature and poetry.
Artists such as Michelangelo Pistoletto, Mario Merz, Alighiero Boetti and Jannis Kounellis experiment with new languages ​​such as performances, installations and happenings, in relation to the international scene. Art leaves the frame of the picture to invade the world, enter the streets and squares, garages and underground parking lots, in an incredible intertwining with the reality and everyday life, both individual and collective, of the time. Italian gallery owners and critics open their doors to the most extreme international artists, such as Joseph Beuys, Hermann Nitsch, Marina Abramovic, who find in our country opportunities to experiment with visionary and provocative languages ​​with great freedom.
In this historical juncture, photography becomes indispensable for narrating and documenting otherwise ephemeral practices. Through 150 images from the archives of the galleries and photographers who participated in these events, portraying exhibitions, performances, debates and actions, the exhibition tells the evolution of an international scene that sees Italy at the center of the artistic culture of the time. Paolo Mussat Sartor and Paolo Pellion tell the adventure of Arte Povera in Turin, in the Sperone, Tucci Russo and Christian Stein galleries. Claudio Abate documents the art scene of the capital, with the exhibitions and actions at the L'Attico gallery and the Vitality of the Negative in 1971 and Contemporanea, set up in the underground parking of Villa Borghese in 1973, with the participation of European and American international artists , from George Segal to Robert Rauschenberg, from Ben Vautier to Christo. In Naples - where one of the greatest Italian photographers of the second half of the century, Mimmo Jodice, present in the exhibition, acts - the Modern Art Agency of Lucio Amelio hosts the performances of the shaman artist Joseph Beuys, while the Studio Morra proposes the performances of Marina Abramovic and Hermann Nitsch, play on the relationship between body, violence and sacrifice. A journey through images through three Italian cities open to the avant-garde, which mark the rhythm of the exhibition itinerary, through photographs capable of making us discover and understand the great cultural ferment of these years.

The exhibition follows the release of The revolution is us. Art in Italy 1967-1977, the documentary by Ilaria Freccia from an idea by Ludovico Pratesi, produced by the Istituto Luce-Cinecittà.

To accompany the exhibition, a co-edition volume Luce Archivio \ Marsilio Arte.