Impalestra tra Museo e Accademia

temporary exhibitions catalogue:
Firenze, Museo Novecento, 22 January-5 February 2025
Texts by Laura Lombardi, Pantani-Surace, Carlo Falciani, Paolo Parisi, Lorenzo Bruni

Between January and February 2025, the Museo Novecento and the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence organised the ‘Impalestra tra Museo e Accademia’ project. The aim of the initiative was to create a living bridge between the worlds of contemporary art and academic education. For four weeks, the museum was transformed into a gym, into a creative and value-enhancing workshop for young artists. Visitors to the museum had the opportunity to take part free of charge in a series of five events during which eleven young artists engaged with the public and offered direct insight into their work and creative processes. The academy students were accompanied by their tutors in an ongoing dialogue between art training, artistic practice and communication skills. The title Impalestra tra Museo e Accademia conjures up the idea of both a training session and a moment of evaluation for the students. On the one hand, a museum as a gym of relationships in which to start recounting art and sharing reflections with visitors. On the other, the placing of students’ creativity under the critical lens of the public and of colleagues just as it was budding and becoming a work of art. The young artists put themselves to the test: their goal was to manage to convey the broad content of their practice to visitors and to answer any questions.
One of the main missions of a modern and contemporary art museum is to be an observatory of the present, and to maintain a constant and meaningful dialogue with the age and territory in which it operates.