D O R E A P A L A N: gennaio 2015

European Parliament celebrates Burri centenary

The genius of late Italian painter and sculptor Alberto Burri (1915-1995) will be celebrated Wednesday in Brussels on the 100th anniversary of his birth. The homage to Burri officially kicked off with the opening at the European Parliament an exhibition of 10 works from Burri's Gold and Black series of 1993, made just two years prior to his death for donation to the Uffizi Galleries in 1994. The opening was attended by MEPs, the Italian ambassador and the directors of the Palazzo Albizzini Burri Collection Foundation. In the immediate postwar period Burri's incorporation into his canvases of unusual materials such as plastic cement, resin, zinc oxide, pumice, tar and PVC brought about a shift in the pictorial language of European and international painting. The centennial of his birth March 12, 1915 in the Umbria town of Città di Castello will be celebrated in various venues around the world. In New York City, a Burri retrospective will open at the Guggenheim Museum in October and will later travel to Germany and Italy. The celebrations include the restoration and completion of the Cretto di Gibellina, a land art project made between 1984 and 1989 in which he covered the ruins of a Sicilian town destroyed by a 1968 earthquake in concrete, preserving the layout of the blocks. At 10 square hectares, Burri's Cretto is said to be the world's largest piece of contemporary art. In Milan, authorities will rebuild Burri's massive steel and cement sculpture Teatro Continuo (Continuous Theater) in its original placement in the city's Parco Sempione. Burri first created it in 1973 for exhibition the 15th Milan triennial, and later donated it to the city, which moved it to the park. However the great sculpture Burri had conceived as a gigantic outdoor theater eventually fell into disuse and disrepair, and was dismantled in 1989, prompting the master never to show in Milan again. These and a list of several other events in tribute to Burri were drawn up by the Palazzo Albizzini Burri Collection Foundation and sponsored by Umbria authorities as well as Italian and international partners under the aegis of the Italian ministry of culture. (by Ansa.it)