Centre for Contemporary Culture at Palazzo Strozzi
Palazzo Strozzi
About
CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY CULTURE STROZZINA
The Centre for Contemporary Culture Strozzina (CCCS) was born in 2007, as part of the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, with the intention to give the city of Florence an international contemporary art centre. The CCCS is devoted to producing and showing thematic exhibitions, following an interdisciplinary approach linked to the most up to date scientific research on current trends in contemporary culture. Following this direction, the exhibition Emotional Systems examined the correlations between art and the human emotive system in the light of the most recent neuro-scientific discoveries; China China China!!! focused on the recent boom in Chinese contemporary art; Art, Price and Value investigated the growing links between contemporary art and the international economic system; Green Platform explored the issues of ecology and sustainability; Manipulating Reality and Gerhard Richter addressed the disappearance of the image in contemporary art and the issue of the representation of reality in today’s world. More recently the exhibitions As Soon As Possible and Virtual Identities have fostered an analysis of digital communication in society through issues like digital social acceleration and the topic of identity in the light of the so-called Network Society.
Since 2008 CCC Strozzina has been organising the Emerging Talents Award, a project created by the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi to sustain young Italian art through an exhibition and a prize that offers young Italian artists the chance of emerging and promoting their work in Italy and abroad.
CCC Strozzina is also in charge for the site specific installation program realised for the Palazzo Strozzi courtyard – an “open space exhibition room” where contemporary art calls into question the history and harmonies of this Renaissance architectural site. Examples of these have been the Chinese artist Wang Yu Yang with Artificial Moon in 2008, Yves Netzhammer (Switzerland) – who created the complex intervention Inventory of Abstraction (2009) that overlapped sculpture, video and soundscape –, or the Italian maestro Michelangelo Pistoletto whose Metercube of Infinity in a Mirroring Cube created a stunning dialogue with the courtyard space during the 2010 autumn-winter season.
Since its opening, the CCC Strozzina has exhibited works of such international artists as Bill Viola, William Kentridge, Dan Perjovschi, Damien Hirst, Cindy Sherman, Andreas Gursky, Wolfgang Tillmans, Antony Gormley and Gerhard Richter. Their works have been shown together with those of younger or not yet so established artists, always looking toward a dialogue between different approaches and new reflections about the selected topics. The challenge posed by the Renaissance architecture of Palazzo Strozzi for contemporary art is taken as a stimulus to create a dialogue between past, present and future. CCC Strozzina is always searching for a responsive reception from the audience through involvement in activities such as lectures led by academics from different disciplines, artists’ talks, and a rich educational programme dedicated to schools, adults, kids and families.
