CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY CULTURE STROZZINA - FLORENCE

24 APRIL - 19 JULY 2009

Curated by Valentina Gensini and Lorenzo Giusti, the exhibition "Green Platform - art, ecology and sustainability", at Centre for Contemporary Culture Strozzina (CCCS), Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy, will present from 24 April 2009 to 19 July 2009 a series of works by international artists who address these issues in a number of very different ways.

The artists whose work will be on display are Alterazioni Video, Amy Balkin, Andrea Caretto and Raffaella Spagna, Michele Dantini, Ettore Favini, Futurefarmers, Tue Greenfort, Henrik Håkansson, Katie Holten, Dave Hullfish Bailey, Christiane Löhr, Dacia Manto, Lucy and Jorge Orta, Julian Rosefeldt, Carlotta Ruggieri, Superflex, Nicola
Toffolini and Nikola Uzunowski. Between them they will address the issue of the environment in the dual sense of a crisis in our thermo-industrial society based on non-renewable sources of energy and of an ecological crisis caused by pollution and by the worrying overheating of our planet.

Green Platform will allow visitors to compare the artists' different approaches to, and ways of reflecting on, the problem of ecology which will be explored not only in terms of an environmental approach but also analysed and understood through its myriad philosophical, psychological, environmental, economic and social implications.

ART, NATURE, LANDSCAPE

Some of the artists focus on investigating and denouncing existing situations, conduct and social practices that fail to respect the ecosystem.  Their work highlights the inconsistency and responsibility of individuals and of society as a whole, yet without claiming to indicate any 'right way' to resolve the problem of the environment.  Rather, their work offers a detached analytical view that questions tangible elements in the difficult transformation process currently underway.

ART AND SUSTAINABILITY

Other artists dwell on the theme of virtuous practices designed to curtail environmental impact, in an attempt to avoid jeopardising the chance of future generations to continue to develop while safeguarding the quality and quantity of the world's natural reserves and heritage.  These artists' works are formed with natural, perishable and recycled materials or are constructed in accordance with energy-related, behavioural and structural rationales based on sustainability.

ECO-ACTIVISM - ECO-CRITICISM

Finally there are artists who resort to programmed or relational practices, interacting with the public sphere and proposing not just a virtuous approach in their artistic output but fully-fledged alternative strategies for development.  'Eco-active' artists make the best possible use of the varied vocabulary of art to fight a concrete environmental battle.  Their work simultaneously covers the ground of both artistic practice and political activism.

Designed not only as an exhibition but as a composite platform, Green Platform will offer a variety of different experiences, open to visitors and the community alike, with a series of workshops run by artists, environmental activists and NGO members, a calendar of lectures by experts hailing from several different disciplines and working environments, as well as a programme of videos and documentaries on environmental issues.

The exhibition catalogue, with articles by international authors from a whole range of different disciplines and cultural backgrounds (from the economy to architecture, and from the social sciences to public-sector art), is a perfect tool for prompting reflection and debate on a new concept in art and on the opportunity to foster the new and 'sustainable' development of that art.

http://www.strozzina.org/greenplatform/e_index.php