Artist JR Has Symbolically 'Reopened' a Shuttered Florence Museum With a Photocollage of Its Interio
Artist JR Has Symbolically Reopened a Shuttered Florence Museum With a Photocollage of Its Interior on the Facade
The trompe-l'oeil installation on the outside of the Palazzo Strozzi comes as much of Italy re-enters lockdown.
As half of Italy heads back into lockdown, the French artist JR has unveiled a major installation on the façade of the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence that stresses the importance of maintaining access to culture during the public health crisis.
Several Italian cities, including Rome, Milan, and Venice, have been back under lockdown since March 15, and will remain closed until April 6. While Florence is under slightly less stringent restrictions than some other areas, museums and other cultural institutions are shuttered.
JR has used his signature photocollage method to create a site-specific installation on the exterior of the Renaissance palazzo. Titled La Ferita, Italian for The Wound, the work creates an optical illusion of a great gash running through the institutions external walls. Through the cracks, those on the outside can once again peer into a black-and-white vision of the interior of the shuttered building, with some of Florences famous artworks and cultural heritage on view.
The museums director, Arturo Galansino, says that the symbolic wound references the suffering of cultural institutions that have been forced to close or otherwise restrict access to their collections.
What all these lockdowns have shown us very clearly is that people are hungry for culture. They want to access exhibitions, museums, libraries, theaters, cinemas, to have culture back as a fundamental part of their lives, Galansino tells Artnet News. We want this work to be seen as an invitation to rediscover a direct relationship with art and to explore new forms of sharing and participationa call to action for art and culture in this difficult moment.
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/jr-palazzo-strozzi-1953168