Out of the Blue, A Calligraphic Journey through Alcantara

ART, DESIGN AND CREATIVITY

OUT OF THE BLUE, A CALLIGRAPHIC JOURNEY THROUGH ALCANTARA

"Out of the Blue, A Calligraphic Journey through Alcantara", curated by Dagmar Carnevale Lavezzoli and Katie Hill, is an exhibition promoted and produced by the Municipality of Milan – Culture Department, by the Royal Palace of Milan and by Alcantara S.p.A., devised especially for the Apartment of the Princes

MilanSeptember 2020

Andrea Boragno, Chairman and CEO of Alcantara S.p.A.

Calligraphy: the performance
Virtual tour
The exhibition
Alcantara and the arts

CALLIGRAPHY: THE PERFORMANCE

VIRTUAL TOUR

THE EXHIBITION

In Out of the Blue, six established Chinese artists – Qin Feng, Qu Lei Lei, Sun Xun, Mao Lizi, Zhang Chun Hong, Wang Huangsheng – combining the millenary tradition of their past with the latest technologies, let themselves be inspired by the specificity of a single medium and explore Alcantara^® in all its declinations and potential through works that offer transversal readings, ranging from the classical to the contemporary.

DAGMAR CARNEVALE LAVEZZOLI

Curator

QIN FENG

Infinity of Temples

In his installation, recalling an ancient peristyle, the artist becomes one with the sign: depth and surface coincide. His painting unleashes a primordial energy.

QU LEI LEI

Fragments

Qu Lei Lei creates an immersive forest of ideograms that viewers can walk through. Calligraphic strokes unfurl smoothly along vertical scrolls flowing down from the ceiling and staggered in space.

SUN XUN

Space-Time Fissure

This artwork by Sun Xun is composed of an immersive video projection and a long painted scroll. The artist draws inspiration from the rhythm of ancient calligraphic practice to create contemporary animations permeated by symbolic elements.

MAO LIZI

Passages

In the large screens vibrant splashes of colour are presented on panels, creating a strong visual rhythm within the zigzag form. According to Daoist philosophy, history does not follow a linear process; it is not a vector but develops according to the concept of synchronicity.

Zhang Chun Hong

Fall

The artist creates a hybridisation that skilfully blends human and natural elements. Using her leitmotif of flowing hair, finely drawn in thin silken strands, she creates a sculptural work which the visitor can enter.

Whang Huangsheng

In between

In this multi-faceted calligraphic work, long narrow scrolls of densely written lines on Alcantara hanging downwards are offset by the delicate motion of the upper sphere, generating a perpetual meditative flow between the visitor and the simultaneity of the stimuli.

ALCANTARA AND THE ARTS

For the past ten years, the relationship between Alcantara and the art and creative world has become an integral part of the company’s business strategy. Alcantara has surpassed the relationship based purely on patronage or fundraising objectives, by instead establishing a cultural partnership relationship with International museums and institutions.

GIOVANNA MELANDRI

President of the Fondazione MAXXI

GIOVANNI GASTEL

Photographer

Fabio Cherstich

Director

Mami Kataoka

Director of Mori Museum, Tokyo

Grace Zang

Director of YUZ Museum, Shanghai

The exhibition, curated by Dagmar Carnevale Lavezzoli and Katie Hill, is featured in the programme of the Milan Art Week 2020 (7-13 September 2020) and confirms Alcantera’s ongoing interest in the most advanced forms of contemporary creativity: Out of the Blue in fact marks a new stage in a cycle of works that since 2015 has explored the qualities of Alcantara^® as a material for art and design, transforming various spaces of the Palazzo Reale in Milan into gateways to exhibition proposals of the most unusual kind, both in terms of contents and means of fruition. With this project, the company that produces and markets Alcantara^® worldwide continues this original form of research and development, once again opening up to both established and emerging creatives and collaborating with them on the creation of original works.

Using Alcantara^® as a common denominator, the artists explore the versatility of this avant-garde medium to create works imbued with personal and collective memories. By integrating ancient practices with a futuristic material, China’s millennial cultural heritage acquires new expressive potential.

Calligraphy is one of the highest artistic forms in Chinese culture. After the age of technical reproducibility and the advent of the digital era, this ancient discipline still represents a vehicle of knowledge, a voice addressing topical issues, and a medium that connects an ancient past to contemporary philosophical research. Recognised by UNESCO as an element of world heritage, more than any other type of writing or ‘alphabet’, Chinese calligraphy has always been appreciated for its aesthetic and artistic value.

The Apartment of the Princes at the Royal Palace is transformed into intriguing experiences where site-specific installations respond to the aesthetics of the rooms through both affinities and visual contrasts. Ranging from digital projections to ink forests on rolls, the artists are inspired by calligraphic practice to question the nature of the relationship between man and the world around him through Taoist notions of temporality, life force and participation.