Dream. L’arte incontra i sogni. Art Meets Dreams. Chiostro del Bramante
A theme that becomes a journey, discovery, knowledge, emotion: the dream. Some of the great protagonists of contemporary art reveal themselves through intimate, visionary works. With eyes open or shut, by night or day, kept secret or made real: an exhibition about desires, expectations, fantasies and exorcized fears. An exhibition at Chiostro del Bramante that allows spectators to give shape to their own dreams.
Dream is an allegorical journey towards the most secret part of the human soul; the theme of dreams is developed through the idea of a journey, and, according to Sigmund Freud, constitutes the channel or “the royal road” for entering into contact with the unconscious and the spiritual dimension. The exhibition considers the dream as an element of reflection, of discovery, as a private expression, as a gateway into the deepest space of the soul.
Site-specific works alternate with works redesigned for the spaces of the Chiostro del Bramante Rome, in a sequence that turns into one big story, thanks partly to the direct involvement of the artists. The exhibition itinerary is imagined as an experience that leads the public from the darkest zones to the meditative dimension and on to the heavenly spaces of the soul.
Dream is the representation of the idea of the dream, another dimension that transcends the physical nature of perception to enter the territory of emotion, of enchantment, of poetry.
Danilo Eccher
It is a journey that is physical, surreal, mental and dreamlike, leading the spectators through a series of stages and passages, stops and re-starts: from immersion in nature to a confrontation with shapes, from the evocation of personal and collective memories to contact with matter, from shadows, sounds, and darkness towards total immersion in light.
Dream completes the trilogy conceived and curated by Danilo Eccher for Chiostro del Bramante, which began with Love (2016), followed by Enjoy (2017). Three great exhibitions dedicated to the most intimate human emotions represented through the many poetics of contemporary art; three panoramas that are capable of exploring the feelings of the soul: from the ambiguity of desire to the most exhilarating joys and on into the unconscious.
protagonists, Chiostro del Bramante
Jaume Plensa, Anselm Kiefer, Mario Merz, Giovanni Anselmo, Christian Boltanski, Doris Salcedo, Henrik Håkansson, Wolfgang Laib, Claudio Costa, Kate MccGwire, Anish Kapoor, Tsuyoshi Tane, Ryoji Ikeda, Bill Viola, Alexandra Kehayoglou, Peter Kogler, Luigi Ontani, Ettore Spalletti, Tatsuo Miyajima, James Turrell.
itinerary
In the setting of Donato Bramante’s perfect Renaissance architecture comes the first homage to the world of dreams: two imposing female faces with their eyes closed face each other and accompany us into the world of dreams (J. Plensa).
A man lying on the ground beneath a boundless starry sky (A. Kiefer); a room invaded by bundles of brushwood (M. Merz); in the confusion we lose our bearings, but a compass has been placed on a small sand dune (G. Anselmo); immersed in nature, we glimpse lights and the shadows of dancing figures (C. Boltanski); a mysterious creature made of feathers twists like a fearsome Demogorgon (K. MccGwire); a walkway leads in a line past an uprooted, suspended tree (H. Håkansson) through light, silk clothes pierced by numerous pins and memories (D. Salcedo) up to a sculpture in wood, iron and bone (C. Costa); nature strikes fear but sometimes offers succour in the calmness of its elements, with ashes and rice (W. Laib), while at other times it shows itself in all its grandeur with majestic, noble alabasters (A. Kapoor).
We leave the shadows to breathe in a new dimension, a golden rain that brightens everything up (T. Tane), while sounds and images restore the dimension of the cosmos (R. Ikeda); purification occurs through water (B. Viola); the journey continues through a soft cave made of wool with rock paintings (A. Kehayoglou), and from the lush natural world of Patagonia we suddenly find ourselves in a labyrinthine dimension that’s abstract and geometrical (P. Kogler).
The bed is one of the places for dreaming, for sleeping as access to other dimensions (L. Ontani); in dreams there are openings in space and time that can alienate us (T. Miyajima); the dream is coloured with sweetness and harmony (E. Spalletti); the dream is light and depth that enchants and allows us to glimpse infinity (J. Turrell).
curated by Danilo Eccher
