Richard Demarco – la strada, le route, the road – a trans-cultural life – Exhibition – Museo Nazionale di Castello Pandone, Venafro

Museo Nazionale del Molise is proud to present Richard Demarco: la route, the road, la strada, an exhibition about Scotland’s Richard Demarco, lauded since the 1950s for his pioneering programmes of pan-European contemporary art.

With 2019 marking Demarco’s ninetieth year, this exhibition introduces him as mediator of international relations to the communities of his heritage, from where his ancestors started their journey over two hundred years ago.

For the first time, la route, the road, la strada presents Demarco’s personal notebooks, photographs and drawings with contextualising works by Elaine Shemilt which chart his experiences in the 1940s growing up as an Italian boy in Churchill’s United Kingdom alongside documentation of over sixty years’ work establishing new international arenas for pioneering cultural exchanges.

By exploring Demarco’s sense of continuum from his ancestry through his own artworks conceptualised as ‘The Road to Meikle Seggie’, and his pioneering programmes connecting avant-garde artists between Eastern and Western Europe, la route, the road, la strada aims to open dialogues with the international diaspora of central Italy, to foster understanding of place and identity in today’s trans-cultural society.

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Please join us for the opening in the company of Richard Demarco:

Friday 11 October at 5pm, Museo Nazionale di Castello Pandone, Venafro

Il Museo Nazionale di Castello Pandone è orgogliosa di presentare la mostra antologica su Richard Demarco (Edimburgo, 1930), artista, educatore e gallerista italo-scozzese che a partire dagli anni ’60 è stato tra gli indiscussi protagonisti della promozione e dello sviluppo dell’avanguardia artistica e teatrale europea in Scozia.

The National Museum Castello Pandone, Venafro is proud to present the first exhibition about the life of Richard Demarco (Edinburgh, 1930), artist, educator and programmer of contemporary art who, since the 1960s has been an undisputed protagonist of the development of the European artistic and theatrical avant-garde.

Demarco è stato assiduo organizzatore di mostre e produzioni teatrali all’interno del Festival di Edimburgo e del Fringe Festival. Appassionato educatore, ha inoltre dato vita tra il 1972 e il 1980 all’Edinburgh Arts Summer School, un complesso programma educativo che ha visto lo sviluppo di seminari, workshop e scambi culturali in tutta Europa. Oggetto di studi e di progetti espositivi che hanno messo in luce molteplici aspetti della sua lunga e sfaccettata carriera – ad esempio ricostruendo le relazioni con Marina Abramović, Joseph Beuys e Tadeusz Kantor.

Demarco has been programme director of contemporary art and theatre for the Edinburgh Festival and the Fringe Festival, a passionate educator, and also gave life to The Richard Demarco Gallery, The Edinburgh Arts Summer School between 1972 and 1980, a complex cultural-educational program that initiated a new model of seminars, workshops and cultural exchanges throughout Europe. This exhibition brings an opportunity for reflection on Demarco’s inter-disciplinary approach and sustained collaborations with artists including Marina Abramović, Joseph Beuys and Tadeusz Kantor.

Demarco non è ancora noto come merita in Italia, il paese delle sue origini e che ha segnato alcune delle sue scelte culturali più rilevanti e dense di esiti internazionali. Fortemente ispirato dalle sue origini italiane – i genitori e gli antenati delle province di Frosinone e Lucca (dal 1780), due tra i maggiori luoghi di emigrazione italiana verso la Scozia – Demarco ha perseguito e promosso nel corso della sua carriera un mutuo dialogo costellato di scambi culturali tra l’Italia e la Scozia. Quest’anno, l’Archivio della Fondazione Demarco è stato al centro della mostra ‘Art and Healing’ alla Scuola Grande di San Marco durante la Biennale Arte di Venezia.

Demarco is not yet as well known as he deserves in Italy, despite the international recognition he has achieved and, starting in the early 1800s, his ancestry originating from Frosinone and Lucca, two of the major provinces of Italian emigration to Scotland. As a young man, Italy shaped Demarco’s formative experiences and profoundly influenced his sense of context and ambition. He continues to pursue transnational dialogues through the cultural platforms and programmes he creates; this year, The Demarco Archive European Art Foundation devised a week of dialogues during the The 58th Venice Art Biennale.

La mostra è a cura di Cultural Documents di Dott.ssa Deirdre MacKenna chi presenta il nesso profondo che, attraverso Demarco, si stabilisce fra la cultura italiana e quella scozzese a partire dagli anni Sessanta, è oggetto della mostra antologica che ripercorre le stazioni di vita e il suo metodo professionale.

The exhibition is curated by by Deirdre MacKenna, Director of Cultural Documents to explore the impact of Demarco’s imagined and actual experiences of Italy on the formation of his idea of Europe, tracing the key moments in his life and his professional method.

MacKenna has developed the exhibition in dialogue with many people whose lives have been affected by Demarco’s works. The exhibition opens with a selection of images contextualising Demarco’s heritage and formative years, with works by Elaine Shemilt’s Winterline series indicating the constant presence of impending and actual war in the 1930s and ’40s.

Questa mostra è la prima di un nuovo programma di collaborazioni tra Cultural Documents e il Polo Museale del Molise, che accoglie la British Council UK-Italy stagione di collaborazione nel 2020.

La mostra inizierà il suo tour in Italia e nel Regno Unito nel 2020.

This exhibition is the first in a new programme of collaborations between Cultural Documents and the Polo Museale del Molise, welcoming in the British Council UK-Italy season of collaboration in 2020.

The exhibition will start its tour of Italy and the UK in 2020.

Read a list of Richard Demarco’s biography and programming here.

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Inaugurazione in presenza di Richard Demarco: venerdì 11 ottobre ore 17.00, Museo nazionale di Castello Pandone, Venafro

Opening in the presence of Richard Demarco: Friday 11 October at 5pm, Museo Nazionale di Castello Pandone, Venafro

Dialogues with Richard Demarco, Deirdre MacKenna e Stephen Partridge, researcher of ‘Richard Demarco: The Italian Connection’: Saturday 12 October at 3pm, Museo Nazionale di Castello Pandone, Venafro

Italian national Day of Contemporary Art (AMACI): Saturday 12 October at 8am until 7pm, Museo Nazionale di Castello Pandone, Venafro

12 ottobre 2019 – 12 gennaio 2020

http://www.culturaldocuments.net/event/richard-demarco-la-strada-le-route-the-road-through-a-lifes-work/

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Comissioned by Cultural Documents and produced in partnership with the Demarco European Art Foundationand the Polo Museale del Molise.

Supported by Impresa di Costruzioni Ing. Antonio Buono SRL, IFS Worldwideand Scatolificio Stella.

Exhibition – 12 October to 12 January 2020

Preview – Friday 11 October, 5 to 7pm

Dialogues with Richard Demarco, Deirdre MacKenna e Stephen Partridge, researcher of ‘Richard Demarco: The Italian Connection’: Saturday 12 October at 3pm

Italian Day of Contemporary Art – Saturday 12 October, 1 to 5pm

vitrine 1 – Richard Demarco, la strada, le route, the road with contextualising works by Elaine Shemilt. Museo Nazionale Castello Pandone 2019 © Cultural Documents

vitrine 1 – Richard Demarco, la strada, le route, the road, with contextualising works by Elaine Shemilt. Museo Nazionale Castello Pandone 2019 © Cultural Documents

install image – Richard Demarco, la strada, le route, the road, with contextualising works by Elaine Shemilt. Museo Nazionale Castello Pandone 2019 © Cultural Documents