With the return of Puglia to the yellow zone, the Pino Pascali Foundation reopens to the public with the exhibition Pupi & Fantocci, the video by Juman Daraghmeh on the occasion of the month of Rememberance and with the permanent collection. The entrance ticket will be 2.50 euros instead of 5.
The Pino Pascali Foundation reopens on Tuesday 16 February 2021. Following the reopening, the museum and its staff will be ready to set off and welcome the public with enthusiasm and in complete safety, from Monday to Friday, in compliance with current regulations, from 4 to 8 pm.
In addition to the permanent collection, with the works of the winning artists of the Pino Pascali Award and the magnificent Cinque Bachi da setola e un bozzolo by Pino Pascali, at the museum visitors will find a playful and imaginative exhibition for adults and children entitled Pupi & Fantocci. In a moment of great uncertainty and social sadness we return to smile with the puppets to wish for a return to gaiety and to childhood memories that are now dormant.The puppets of the Sicilian tradition selected by Paolo Comentale and coming from the prestigious collection of Aldo Mosca in Corato will be compared with the three-dimensional sculptures-puppets made in papier-mâché by the master Deni Bianco of Putignano, one of the best known nationally in the art of papier-mâché of the Apulian tradition. A dialogue in which tradition, innovation, light-heartedness materialize in the work of the hands of our excellent workers between art and craftsmanship.
Deni Bianco decided to create sculptures inspired by the designs for Pino Pascali’s advertising as he himself declares: “Last year I came across the catalog ‘Pino Pascali, works for advertising’ which presents a selection of his imaginative and funny sketches. Leafing through the book, I couldn’t help but imagine that those characters could come out of the pages. I also remember the regret that accompanied this vision for the awareness that, given the complexity of such a work, I would not have been able to have the time necessary to carry it out. Then, suddenly, Covid and the subsequent having to remain at home. For me it was a pleasant discovery of new rhythms, of days punctuated by radio broadcasts, of introspective and intimate reflections in the flavor of the enchanting three-dimensional exploration of the Pino Pascali profile. The result is unique papier-mâché pieces made with the cast technique and of which it will be possible to see all the phases “.
The puppets of the Sicilian tradition and the puppets in papier-mâché inspired by the drawings of a contemporary artist facing each other trigger a virtual and playful dialogue. The puppets made by professor Aldo Mosca, an excellent interpreter of the Catania school, have considerable dimensions and can reach one meter and twenty in height, are enriched with heavy hand-embossed metal armor and precious clothes sewn by skilled hands. The puppets, widespread in southern Italy during the Spanish domination, were included in the Unesco list of the intangible heritage of humanity in 2008. The puppets in paper mache by Deni Bianco start from the famous drawings for commercials for Algida and other TV spots drawn by Pascali. A technique, that of papier-mâché, which in Puglia has very ancient origins and still uses ‘poor’ materials such as old paper, iron wire, plaster, glue with water and flour. The drawings by Pino Pascali date back to the 1960s and tell the ironic and surreal stories of characters who live in imaginative tales for the TV Carousels.
The exhibition presents the ancient puppets, the past and the tradition of the Paladins of France and the deeds of chivalry, ready to be animated by the hands and voice of the man who will give them dynamism, lightness, expressiveness, together with small sculptures inspired by Pascali’s drawings and commercials and television spots. With a leap backwards they materialize into small all-round puppets, in a combine or short circuit that the master Deni Bianco, artist and craftsman, manages to masterfully manage.
In addition to the Pupi & Fantocci exhibition, the Pino Pascali Foundation proposes the video, already presented in an online event last February 3, With Age comes Wisdom by the young Israeli artist and Palestinian origin Juman Daraghmeh: her work addresses the theme of being a woman in hovering between two patriarchal societies, it reflects on the coexistence between different peoples and religions, on the idea of a possible recognition beyond community affiliations.
The video is an autobiographical reflection on a dualistic identity between tradition and new canons, between identity disorientation and the search for a peaceful coexistence between two peoples. In the images we see overlapping and doubling of one’s body, sounds, music, readings, everything mixes and divides in order to seek an inner peace. The project, visible until 28 February 2021, was born on the occasion of the Month of Remembrance, offering a reading of the event in step with the times, updating its contents. The historical events that led to the Shoah teach us that it takes very little to trigger the process that leads to the gradual deprivation of human rights. Keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive today means building a present and a future that helps contemporary humanity in the elaboration, reflection, understanding and study of what happened, so that it never happens again and with the aim of learning how to not underestimate the signs of intolerance that creep into our civil life and into our daily life. The event was organized in collaboration with Francesca Gorgoni, Post-doctoral Fellow, Department of Jewish History, University of Haifa.