12.09.2022
#art
Beatrice Trussardi
A nomadic museum that brings art everywhere. Even in The Swinming pool
“Our model is agile, flexible and allows us to face the hottest topics on the planet in real time together with the artists”
Those who used to be used to seeing the transparent water of the pool now admire a giant expanse of gold. And whoever went in and out of the old changing rooms now sees them invaded by hundreds of dusty strollers. These are some of the installations by the artist Nari Ward that can be admired at the Centro Balneare Romano in Milan, which was transformed into a contemporary art gallery until 16 October. This is thanks to the Gilded Darkness exhibition, curated by Massimiliano Gioni and set up in the Città Studi district by the Nicola Trussardi Foundation, a real nomadic museum for the production and dissemination of art in Milan. Heart, mind and (above all) soul of all this is Beatrice Trussardi, who has led the foundation since 1999. We meet her between the melancholic work Amazing Grace, an installation consisting of 300 abandoned strollers and Emergence Pool, a site specific intervention that turns the pool into an immense (and poignant) golden expanse.
Gilded Darkness exhibition is a very evocative title. What can we expect from this project?
Many emotions. The Nicola Trussardi Foundation has been bringing contemporary art to the most unexpected places in Milan for 19 years, breaking into everyday life with powerful, sometimes provocative, sometimes poetic projects, always inspired by the most pressing issues of our time. The Gilded Darkness exhibition is not an exception. The main installation, Emergence Pool, is an imposing precarious monument: 2000 golden thermal blankets float on the surface of the swimming pool, completely covering all the 4000 square meters of the space. A huge carpet reflecting, mirroring and questioning issues such as migration and the transience of things.
What is the most moving work on display?
Amazing Grace, with its 300 abandoned baby strollers arranged in the shape of a ship’s hull: the poignant voice of gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, accompanying the installation, touches very deep, intimate and universal chords, evoking the ships carrying enslaved men and women in chains across the Atlantic to the US but also tragedies closer to us. But it would be wrong to give a didactic reading to such a powerful installation that speaks to us of human frailty..
The Foundation’s exhibitions often deal with hot topics such as the exodus of refugees, the coexistence of different cultures, and poverty. The same is happening now with Nari Ward. Does art always have to be political for you?
Art should read and share social issues. Art should start from everyday life to talk about universal themes that have always linked humanity. Art should make us reflect and stimulate, it should not be just a reassuring decoration. We want to do exactly this, with Nicola Trussardi Foundation: open debates, activate reflections, take people out of their comfort zone.
You have been President of this institution since 1999. How has contemporary art changed in recent years? And how have you changed as a person?
In 23 years, the world and humanity have gone through gigantic social and global transformations. Real revolutions. Nothing and no one can have remained the same.
A year ago the Beatrice Trussardi Foundation was born, launching the nomadic model of the Nicola Trussardi Foundation at an international level. Why is this model so successful in your opinion?
Because it is agile, flexible and allows an institution to be immediately ready to address issues and urgencies that affect us most. The reality that surrounds us solicits us in every single moment and we can respond to these solicitations very quickly thanks to the work of the artists.
How much does the power of the image affect the world of art today?
This has been the case in the past. Today, after a couple of decades, the overwhelming power of image and appearance is about to end. We are entering a new phase, more complex and perhaps more dramatic: art and artists will not be able to ignore it. We are going through an epochal transition, and I believe that each of us, person or institution, must do their part. We have always been a tool that puts itself at the service of artists and we will continue to do so. We will be active witnesses of this change.
Massimiliano Gioni has been the artistic director of the Foundation since 2003. How did you manage to live together all this time? Is there a secret?
I believe there is neither a secret nor a recipe. We simply work by continuing to share the same values, intentions and methods.
Some have said that art is all contemporary, because the eye of the beholder is contemporary: do you agree?
Art is valid for the message it carries, regardless of the year or century in which a work was made.
Has passion for creativity made you more optimistic or more pessimistic about the future?
Definitely optimistic.
Chanel said that “art is the opposite of fashion: fashion is born beautiful and becomes ugly, art is born ugly and becomes beautiful”: what do you think? Does it always have to be like this, does art always have to shock at first to be discovered later?
No, I don’t think it should be shocking. However, I think that true art is that which goes beyond appearance. Maybe we don’t recognize it immediately, but we slowly discover it thanks to the continuous stimuli it offers us. I distrust art that excites at first glance: the more enigmatic a work is and continues to make you want to look at it, discover it, the more it will continue to tell us new things over time. Kraus also said: art is what the world will become, not what the world is …
Years ago you said that “gratitude is a necessary feeling”. Who are the people you are grateful to? Were you able to thank them all?
I am grateful to those who are able to share their experience with others. Giving thanks is an important exercise for me, I try never to postpone it.
Is there a question you would like me to ask you that I haven’t asked you yet?
I answer by quoting the artists Fischli and Weiss: …Can everything been thought? (Smiles)
Interview : Germano D’Acquisto
Photos : Andrea Marcantonio
