05 February 2012

MACT The living museum and CACTyou! Project

Scroll down for English version







Come preannunciato, la stagione 2012 si apre con due mostre. La prima dedicata alla presenza del MACT Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Ticino sul territorio ticinese; la seconda, a carattere più didattico e curata da Pier Giorgio De Pinto, si concentra – sotto il logo CACTyou! Project – attorno agli aspetti della mediazione culturale che il CACT ha affrontato nel corso del 2011 grazie alla sua informazione telematica (siti e blog), le 5 fanzine d’artista, la CACT edition #1 e allo studio statistico legato alla frequentazione pubblica delle nostre attività culturali.

Donato Amstutz, Mirabilis, 2009 (Private collection, Switzerland)

Il MACT propone una selezione di opere da collezioni private a significare e testimoniare la presenza in Ticino di realtà culturali, quali il collezionismo, così come a sollecitare e ad evidenziare la presenza di realtà private, ma non per questo meno rilevanti, rispetto all’istituzione pubblica; realtà, queste, evidenziate in modo particolare nel mondo dell’arte soprattutto al nord delle Alpi e nel Nord-Europa. La mostra si suddivide in tre parti tematiche; un omaggio a Katia Bassanini, artista ticinese scomparsa nel 2010, una sezione sul tema del ritratto e la videoroom con un’installazione dell’artista Shahryar Nashat.

Shahryar Nashat, All the Way back. The recostruction, 2001 (Private collection, Switzerland)

CACTyou! Project, a cura di Pier Giorgio De Pinto, rappresenta la riflessione sul lavoro di mediazione culturale che De Pinto ha svolto nel 2011 al Centro d’Arte Contemporanea Ticino. In particolare egli si è occupato di curare un’edizione di cinque numeri della CACTyou! fanzine (peraltro esposte in Svizzera ed in Francia) dedicata ad altrettanti artisti, le Activity guides e lo studio sulla frequentazione/fruizione del CACT da parte del pubblico; interessante constatare come le modalità d’interazione possano cambiare, cambiando i mezzi di comunicazione. Verrà, inoltre, presentata la CACT Edition #1, una mappa di 4 acqueforti in tiratura di 7 esemplari create da Francesca Guffanti e realizzate da L’impressione di Locarno.

Katia Bassanini, Sans titre (valise), 2001 (Private collection, Switzerland)

La sezione dedicata a CACTyou! Project è stata concepita per mettere in qualche modo in mostra il pubblico e la sua attività nel momento d’interazione con la programmazione espositiva e degli eventi del CACT.







As already announced previously, the 2012 season kicks off with two exhibitions. The first is devoted to the presence of the MACT Museum of Contemporary Art Ticino in the territory of the Canton. The second is more didactic in nature: curated by Pier Giorgio De Pinto and adopting the logo CACTyou! Project, it focuses on aspects of the cultural mediation undertaken by the CACT in the course of 2011 through its Internet media (websites and blogs), 5 artist fanzines, the CACT edition #1 and a statistical study of public attendance at our cultural activities.

Jon Campbell, Nic, 2008 (Private collection, Switzerland)


The MACT showcases a selection of works loaned by private collections, whose purpose is to signify and bear witness to the presence of instances of cultural ferment in Canton Ticino, such as private collecting, as well as to stimulate and highlight the presence of such activities, whose private status by no means detracts from their cultural relevance as compared to the work of public institutions, bearing in mind that private collections play a particularly high-profile role in the art world, especially on the northern slopes of the Alps and further afield in northern Europe. The exhibition is divided into three thematic sections: a tribute to the late Katia Bassanini, the Ticino artist who passed away in 2010, a section focused on the topic of portraiture and a video room with an installation by the artist Shahryar Nashat.

Martin Disler, Die Ebenen des Grab-Gabentisches, 1987 (Private collection, Switzerland)


The CACTyou! Project, curated by Pier Giorgio De Pinto, constitutes a reflection of the activity of cultural mediation undertaken by De Pinto at the Contemporary Art Centre in Canton Ticino in 2011. In particular, he focused on editing a series of five issues of the CACTyou! fanzine (which have already gone on show in Switzerland and France), each one dedicated to a single artist, the Activity guides and a study of how much and in what manner the public frequents and makes use of the CACT, drawing attention to the interesting realisation that modes of public interaction are liable to change as a function of changes in the communication media adopted from time to time. The project also presents the CACT Edition #1, a folder of four etchings in limited editions of seven copies each, created by Francesca Guffanti and printed by L’impressione of Locarno.

Ivana Falconi, Primogenito, 2007 (Private collection, Switzerland)


The section devoted to the CACTyou! Project is designed to put the public itself somehow under the spotlight, drawing attention to what it does on those occasions when it interacts with the agenda of exhibitions and events at the CACT.

Mario Casanova, 2011 [translation Pete Kercher]