This past weekend, for our contemporary art class, we traveled to Centro per l'arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci in Prato Italy. With some help from our professor, that actually happened to work in the museum, we were able to get in without waiting in the 2+ hour line. We were thrown right into the middle of the museum, starting with a video installation made by Bjork titled Black Lake. Now this sure was a way to get started, the video was shown on opposite walls accompanied by surround sound music. This was one of my favorite pieces, maybe it was just because it was the first we came across but the room shaking sound had me intrigued. This was commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2015.
As we continued through the circular exhibition space, I stumbled upon another artists work that I found fascinating. At first I was a little taken aback by the subject matter, but when I read closer into the meaning of the work it all made sense (my absolute favorite thing about art, being caught off guard and then learning the background information and leaving in awe). Andrey Kuzkin went off the idea of "the man and the Earth, the Earth and the man". He wanted to place himself into landscapes as if he were merely a tree, he wanted to become one but the fact that he is incapable only adds to the piece. The work, "The Phenomenon of Nature or 99 Landscapes with Tree" is a series of photographs of the artist with his body suspended in the air in different landscapes around the world. It is also a film, looking into each of the photographs more in depth. The way that he puts himself into these scenes, it looks out of place but all he wants to do is fit in. It was my absolute favorite of the exhibition.
I'm excited to continue my journey through Europe trying to make it to every art museum that I can, there is just something about it that always makes my heart jump when I figure out the meaning behind an artist work. On to the next! Ciao!
