Some leading contemporary artists in dialogue with Michelangelo

Next summer (2016) at Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence it will take place a very interesting exhibition: ten leading contemporary artists in dialogue with the masterpieces created by Michelangelo and other historical artists. They are: Marina Abramović, Cai Guo-Qiang, Maurizio Cattelan, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Yayoi Kusama, Bruce Nauman, Richard Prince, Gerhard Richter, Cindy Sherman.

The mix between ancient and contemporary art has a long history. Even if from the Avant-guards art wanted to break with the past, the charm of confrontation has always existed. It has changed the perception of the world, the aim of art, which from an instrument of communication that conveys other contents it has become a means of innovation itself, but the comparison with the best artists of the past remains an aspiration in a dimension of substantial continuity. Have a look to the contemporary artists invited to exhibit here, each of them has in the CV many comparisons with the history. Just think of Jeff Koons' exhibition in Versailles in 2008 or the Maurizio Cattelan's one at Palazzo Reale in Milan in 2010 or the comparison created by Cindy Sherman wearing the clothes of protagonists of ancient artworks. Even an event traditionally devoted to the contemporary avant-garde as Manifesta, the European Biennial of Contemporary Art, during the last edition held in St. Petersburg played with the history entering into a sacred place like the Hermitage.

There is also another element that supports this comparison. The contemporary system of communication tends to equate all kind of images. There is no longer an history, a before and after. We have an all-encompassing 'present' in which the values collected from the past are on the same level of the contemporary ones.

A very interesting exhibition... but we have to wait almost a year!!

Photo credit: Jeff Koons, Selfportrait with a pig, 1998, silkscreen on Porcelain, Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, Corridoio Vasariano