The Giardino Giusti in Verona, Italy, has recently been included among the 10 finalists of “Il parco più bello” (‘The Most Beautiful Park’), a national competition aimed at celebrating the priceless heritage of Italy’s unparalleled parks and gardens. Always considered one of the most interesting examples of the Italian garden, with its Roman ruins, its majestic avenue of cypresses, and one of the oldest labyrinths in Europe, the Giardino Giusti opens its gates to contemporary art with the exhibition “To be played – Video, immagine in movimento e videoinstallazione nella generazione ottanta”, from 11 October to 22 November. Introduced during the ‘60s mainly as a means of documenting Performance Art, then an autonomous artistic language by the ‘70s, video is a medium that embodies the correlation between the artistic inquiry of the 20th century and the field of technological innovation.
Today, experimentations with video and moving images are the main focus of the research of a number of artists who, after having assimilated the possibilities suggested by the work of their predecessors, have developed a proliferation of languages that define the contemporary era. Curated by Jessica Bianchera and Marta Ferretti, in collaboration with ArtVerona and Careof, the exhibition presents the work of a selection of young artists who work in a transversal way, exploring different approaches to the expressive, narrative and presentational possibilities of video. The exhibition is made even more special by the official presentation of Appartamento 900, recently restored and refurnished. Surrounded by the frescoes by Veronese architect Paolo Farinati (1524-1606), the apartment in the west wing of the Palazzo, which overlooks the majestic garden, is organized into a series of spacious rooms that illustrate the various eras from 16th to the 20th century. Built during the Cinquecento by Agostino Giusti, it was inhabited by his family until it was requisitioned by the Luftwaffe in 1943 and then bombed in 1944. The rooms welcome the visitor with a decor that features plant and palm motifs typical of the time.
The Flora Journal 