On the occasion of the centenary of Mario Merz’s birth, the Fondazione Merz presents Libertà di avere tre idee contrastanti (The freedom to have three contrasting ideas), a symposium dedicated to the artist developing a choral narrative about Mario Merz and his thinking, one that is constantly evolving and open to a plurality of visions.
Over the two days on Tuesday 14 and Wednesday 15 January 2025, scholars, critics, art historians and artists will start from their own specific experience to take turns in offering testimonies, insights and reflections enhancing knowledge about Merz’s work and his legacy.
PROGRAM
14 January 2025
h.10 am. opening and welcome speech by Beatrice Merz, President Fondazione Merz
Rudi Fuchs, author and curator, will be represented through the words of a text that Cristina Mundici will read at the opening
Francesco Manacorda, Director Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli (TO)
Mario Merz al Castello
h. 10.30 am. Samuel Gross art critic and curator, curator in charge of the exhibition sector at the MAH, Musée d’Art et d’Histoire de Genève
Trovare una forma politica per la vita, Merz e Tinguely
h. 11 am. Danilo Eccher, indipendent curator
Per una messa in scena, la mostra come un’opera d’arte negli allestimenti di Mario Merz
h. 11.30 am. coffee break
h. 12 pm. Luisa Borio, Mario and Marisa Merz’s research and archive, Fondazione Merz, Torino
L’Archivio Merz
h. 12.30 pm. Manuel Borja-Villel, author and indipendent curator – live streaming
Time is Mute
h. 2.30 pm. Bartolomeo Pietromarchi, curator and museum director
Lo spazio è curvo o diritto?
h. 3 pm. Dieter Schwarz, author and indipendent curator, Zürich
Drawing as a Way of Being – From La Bussola to Galleria Sperone, 1954–1968
h. 3.30 pm. Bruno Corà, sart critic and President Fondazione Palazzo Albizzini Collezione Burri
Mario Merz, arte e architettura poeticamente
h. 4 pm. coffee break
h. 4.30 pm. Lisa Le Feuvre, Executive Director Holt/Smithson Foundation, Santa Fe – live streaming
Mario Merz: an art that matters
h. 5 pm. Costantino D’Orazio, Director Musei nazionali di Perugia, Direzione regionale Musei nazionali Umbria e Dirigente delegato Musei Nazionali di Bologna, Managing director Musei nazionali Emilia-Romagna
Mario Merz e il tempo: un segno del Foro di Cesare
h. 5.30 pm. Matilde Guidelli-Guidi, curator, Dia Art Foundation, NY – live streaming
Is space bent or straight: Mario Merz at Dia Beacon
h. 6 pm. Simon Starling, artist
The Inaccessible Poem
h. 6.30 pm.
Screening of the documentary video Che fare? / Mario Merz, 2024 by Roberto Cuzzillo
15 January 2025
h. 10 am. Giorgio Verzotti, art critic and indipendent curator
Una biografia indesiderata
h. 10.30 am. Antonella Soldaini, art critic and curator
Mario Merz e Germano Celant: appunti per un’amicizia
h. 11 am. Daniela Lancioni, senior curator Azienda Speciale Palaexpo, Palazzo Esposizioni, Roma
Mario Merz e la mostra del 1978 con i pittori del Novecento: spunto per riflettere su una nuova pittura
h. 11.30 am. coffee break
h. 12 pm. Vicente Todolí, artistic director Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milano and member of the Scientific Committee of the Fondazione Merz in conversation with Beatrice Merz, President of the Fondazione Merz
h. 12.30 pm. Fiammetta Griccioli, curator Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milano
Igloos. Pirelli HangarBicocca
h. 2.30 pm. Pietro Rigolo, chief curator and head of collection Pinacoteca Agnelli, Torino
Mario Merz e Harald Szeemann, La sensazione di andare
h. 3 pm. Elisabetta Benassi, artist
Voglio fare subito una mostra
h. 3.30 pm. Mariano Boggia, Merz’s collection and member of the Scientific Committee of the Fondazione Merz, Torino
In Memoriam
h. 4 pm. Screening of the documentary video Che fare? / Mario Merz, 2024 by Roberto Cuzzillo
