Banksy and the Street Art on exhibition in Bologna

bansky | exhibition

Banksy and the Street Art on exhibition in Bologna

Street Art in Bologna. When someone talks about Street Art, we soon think about a group of artists who, since the latest 1960s have used the streets to create innovative works of art; but thanks to the web have soon become representative of historic period we live in.

Maybe in 100 years in art history books Bansky, Dado and Rusty will be mentioned as members of an artistic genre developed from the end of the 20th century to the beginning of the 21st century, called Street Art.

An exhibition dedicated to Street Art will be on show at Palazzo Pepoli in Bologna from March 18th to June 26th 2016. And a controversy has soon broken out.

untitled | Sane Smith

I thought that an exhibition devoted to Street Art would be a great idea, but I had no idea the curators and Genus Bononie, which promoted the exhibition, would remove some of the exhibited works of art from the walls of the buildings of Bologna.

The scandal has broken immediately and it has provoked violent reactions and resounding gestures. For example, Blu is erasing with a coat of grey paint all the murals he painted in Bologna in the past 20 years and that can’t be removed because they’re too large.

The phenomenon of the urban graffiti has gained a special importance in the contemporary creativity: works by Bansky have invaded the major cities in the world, and since the 1980s Bologna has asserted itself as a point of reference for several artists- from Cuoghi Corsello to Blu, from Dado to Rusty- who have chosen Bologna for leaving their marks on the walls. These artists are making the history of art now, and they express their opinion on very delicate themes, such as the Syrian Civil War, or they struggle using their spray cans because of their different opinions on the role a street artist should play. The “war” between Bansky and Robbo is rather famous.

The exhibition should have illustrated this art form in its evolution and its spectacular nature bringing for the first time to Italy the collection of the American painter Martin Wong donated in 1994 to the Museum of the City of New York, which includes the works by the greatest American graffiti writers and street artists such as Dondi White, Keith Haring and Lady Pink.

Actually, the exhibition has turned into an act of vandalism, because it doesn’t take into account copyright and commercial exploitation of the works without the consent of the author.
You can buy a wall, but you can’t buy creativity; in the same way you can buy a picture, but you can’t publish it on the cover of a book without the consent of the author, or you can’t sell a song protected by copyright.
The matter has become viral on social networks, and keeping up with it and reading the official announcements will be fascinating.

I side with Blu.

INFO
Street Art – Banksy & Co. L’arte allo stato urbano
March 18 – June 26, 2016 – Palazzo Pepoli, Bologna

LINK
http://www.genusbononiae.it

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5 thoughts on “Banksy and the Street Art on exhibition in Bologna

  1. grazie per il tuo articolo… mi chiedo quanto possan esser consapevoli gli organizzatori di cosa sia la street art e quali siano le intenzioni degli artisti. ho visto delle opere di Blu a modena, dove vivo, e ritengo l’inserimento del dipinto nel suo contesto urbano tutt’uno con l’opera. staccarlo significa snaturarlo.
    .l’essere effimero in quanto posto su edifici da abbattere o abbandonati fa parte della sua natura…
    l’intenzione di conservarla per i posteri mi pare l’autocompiacimento di “cultori” piuttosto che la buona intenzione di qualche ingenuo…e anche in questo caso, la strada per l’inferno rimane lastricata di buone intenzioni

    • Elisabetta, le buone intenzioni sbandierate dagli organizzatori sono povere di contenuto.
      Iniziare un dibattito sulla conservazione di quelle che sono delle opere a tutti gli effetti è giusto, ma appropriarsene è tutt’altra faccenda.
      Tanto più che le opere separate dal loro contesto sono state “restaurate”, ma essendo gli autori ancora vivi e vegeti avrebbero dovuto partecipare a questa operazione. Invece non sono stati neppure contattati.
      Credo che la mostra sia una scusa per appropriarsi di opere che hanno un valore economico.
      In questo c’è sicuramente lungimiranza, ma a che prezzo per la collettività e per il sacrosanto diritto d’autore?

      • La cosa che mi inquieta maggiormentel si tratta di una decisione presa non da un singolo, ma da un gruppo di personedel settore…a nessuno sono venute in mente queste tue giustissime riflessionii???mah

        • Purtroppo, Elisabetta, i curatori della mostra ci hanno pensato e anche bene a tutte le questioni sul diritto d’autore, sullo sradicamento delle opere dal loro contesto e di tutte le implicazioni.
          La risposta è stata questa “Rispetto al diritto d’autore, non me ne frega niente. Se espongo un’opera, perché considero che serva a portare avanti un discorso o a generare un dibattito lo faccio”.
          La frase l’ho estrapolata da un’intervista rilasciata da Christian Omodeo, uno dei curatori della mostra.
          L’intervista si trova su Artribune (questo è il link: http://www.artribune.com/2016/01/bologna-street-art-mostra-polemica/ )

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