Until Sept. 8: SMISURATA (‘Immeasurable’). Centro Pecci, viale della Repubblica 277, Prato. Open Thursday – Sunday 10 am – 7 pm. Admission: €7.
Smisurata was curated by Ibrahim Kombarji, a New York-based architect, designer, researcher, and writer.
Subtitled ‘Opere XXL’ (‘XXL Works’), Smisurata showcases more than 15 large-scale, unique works, spread over several rooms. Given the pieces’ size, Smisurata is visible and thus accessible to all viewers and aims to encourage community, connection, and collective memory. Each piece holds both visual and symbolic power, focusing on the audience’s shared imagination and encouraging them to appreciate the art, in whatever form this manifests. Viewers are thus invited to “reflect, observe, listen, meditate, and dance.”
The installations are spread out over several rooms so the audience is granted the physical and psychological space to meditate upon of each. One of the unforgettable works displayed is Marco Bagnoli’s Città del Sole (‘City of the Sun’), a triangular prism made from iron, frosted glass, and electric-powered light. Città del Sole was first showcased in 1988 for Centro Pecci’s Europea oggi (‘Europe today’) exhibition and, in its new position underneath one of Centro Pecci’s largest skylights, the work reflects the sunlight, creating a glowing effect.
Another striking work is Lorenzo Bonechi’s Coversazioni, an oil on canvas painting originally exhibited in 1986. Colourful and visually striking, Bonechi’s 29 x 35 metre work was inspired by a Tuscan landscape somewhere between Arezzo and Florence. The artist often paints settings linked to his own memory, and this one depicts a moment frozen in time, the figures caught mid-conversation.
