It is a sort of ‘dissertation through images’ on the 1970s, the second exhibition of the triptych envisaged by the collaboration betweeCSAC – Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione of the Parma Univertity and the Municipality of Parma – Assessorato alla Cultura. After the exhibition “Visioni (im)possibili” of 2024, which focused on the 1960s seen ‘from a Bauhaus point of view’, here we are with “Intorno ai ’70″, a journey through ideologies, projects and languages from the CSAC collections, which anticipates the final stage of the journey, a survey of the 1980s that will be staged in 2026.
Intorno ai ’70: ideologie, progetti, linguaggi nelle collezioni CSAC will be open on the first floor of Palazzo Pigorini from 1 March to 4 May.
Curated by CSAC Director Cristina Casero, lecturer in History of Contemporary Art at the University of Parma, and by CSAC, in collaboration with the City of Parma, it offers an in-depth look at a decade in which artists, photographers, stylists, designers and planners intercepted the tensions and social upheavals and in a broader cultural sense, that erupted during 1968 and interpreted the utopias that swept through civil society, often also giving voice to the increasingly widespread discontent in Italian society, caught between modernity and problems that, never dormant, are now overbearingly exploding.
These are years in which many certainties are being questioned, starting with some of the more traditional institutions. In this climate, those professionally involved in visual communication, art and design, are questioning their own role.
In a society that commodifies even the artistic act, the desire is to stimulate critical thought and reflection, interpreting the innovative season that the country is going through, and to renew languages in function of a more direct relationship with the public.
In the halls of Palazzo Pigorini, the works of artists, designers, photographers, illustrators and stylists dialogue with each other, giving visitors a mosaic rich in suggestions and food for thought and highlighting the plurality of visual languages that permeated Italy in the 1970s. From the photographs of Mario Cresci and the Publifoto Roma agency to the sketches of Walter Albini, Giorgio Armani, Brunetta and Krizia, from the design icons of Achille Castiglioni, Alessandro Mendini, Roberto Menghi, Alberto Rosselli and Ettore Sottsass Jr. to the satire of Alfredo Chiappori and Felis to the works of Enrico Baj, Emilio Isgrò, Ugo La Pietra, Mimmo Rotella, Mario Schifano and Emilio Vedova.
In autumn, a second exhibition dedicated to the 1970s will be set up at the Valserena Abbey, CSAC’s headquarters, with the aim of further exploring the themes investigated in the exhibition at Palazzo Pigorini.
INFO
Exhibition opening: 1 March – 4 May 2025
Opening hours: Wednesday – Sunday and public holidays 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. (last admission to the exhibition 6.30 p.m.). Open 20 and 21 April (Easter and Easter Monday), 25 April, 1 May.
Free admission
pigorini@comune.parma.it
www.comune.parma.it/cultura
THE THREE-YEAR COLLABORATION PROJECT
“Intorno ai ’70: ideologie, progetti, linguaggi nelle collezioni CSAC” is the second act of a three-year collaboration project between CSAC and the Municipality of Parma: in the three-year period 2024-2026 the project envisages six exhibition events, three in the CSAC premises at the Abbazia di Valserena and three in an exhibition space of the Municipality, to propose a reflection on recent history. The exhibitions have as their generating element the works and documents selected from the CSAC collections and aim to shed light not only on the major themes of the cultural debate of the identified period, but also on social and political dynamics, the transformations of the languages of communication and the complex and biunivocal relations between art and industry, design and mass culture, document and narration.
