The Project

The WALL is a cultural object that has accompanied humanity since its beginning.

It is the wall full of graffiti, the wall that bears our memories, the movie screen upon which we project stories, obsessions, and it is also a surface to be overcome, a scratched canvas of Fontana that opens up real and imaginary spaces.

The Wall defends us, but also separates us. It hides us, but we use it to express ourselves. It protects us, but we want to get over it. It unites by dividing. It hides by revealing.

A Wall never has only one side.

Content

And thus in the exhibition we can explore:

The psychological wall: defense, protection, security, identity, but also the isolation that produces marginalization and loneliness, taboos created from the lack of communications.

The public wall: the wall is the most visible thing we have around us, it is the way that we express, facades and monuments, advertising, exhibited status, and today’s increasingly virtual bulletin boards.

The functional wall: a wall always begins by dividing, by creating a space (or better, at least two spaces, in and out), it defines your space: the walls, the house, the fence, the courtyard, the cloister built for defense and protection but which may also become a prison.

The social wall: a division always creates separation between those who are included and those who are excluded, the privileged and the rejects, it is the obstacle that evokes ghettos and discrimination, but also the issue of accessibility.

The wall of remembrance: the wall is made to last, and that’s why it has always been used as a support for memories. Gravestones, milestones, memorials and monuments query us about the themes of time and the permanence of what we have been and would like to be.

The expressive wall: walls have always been used for writing and drawing, the wall is a surface on which to leave a sign, street art, messages, graffiti, murals.

The political wall: “Good fences make good neighbors” the Anglo-Saxons say. The separation barrier evokes the notions of security and segregation, borders, and division, but also the concept of privacy, in a world that is increasingly uncertain and… walled.

And in the exhibition you’ll find a timeline with an history of the walls, works of art (Fontana, Uncini, Rotella, Pomodoro, Piranesi, Christo, Pugliese), musical and movie references (Pink Floyd), special interactive installations (e.g. a door where you can enter or not, depending on a random identification of your fingerprint), a cardboard boxes wall that you can restore or tear down (discovering all the existing walls that separates countries or regions in the contemporary world) and international contemporary art installations (Hitomi Sato).