The young people visiting our ruins see nothing but a style

The GAM- Turin Civic Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art has invited FormContent, a group of young curators formed by Francesco Pedraglio, Caterina Riva and Pieternel Vermoortel, to plan its upcoming exhibition and to apply their distinctive and independent curatorial practice to a more institutional space than the one they usually move to. In fact, throughout the years, the FormContent curators have developed a personal working method, which particularly distinguishes them from the more classic exhibition practice that is commonly used by big institutions like our museum. They have introduced an exhibition concept where curators, artists, exhibition spaces and the artworks are in constant dialogue. The result of such approach is an engaging set-up offering a significant insight of what the new GAM exhibition season will be like.

The exhibition is entitled after Jean Cocteau's observation: "From 1917, when he was fourteen, Raymond Radiguet taught me to distrust the new if it had a new look, to run counter to the fashions of the avant-garde. this puts one in an awkward position. One shocks the right. One shocks the left. But, at a distance, all these contradictions come together under one label. Clever the one that can sort this out. The young people visiting our ruins see nothing but a style. The age called 'heroic' displays nothing but its daring. (...) This phenomenon of perspective does not concern youth. Youth can only assert itself through the conviction that its ventures surpass all other and resemble nothing."

The exhibition will showcase a substantial number of works by artists born between the 1970s and the 1980s, displayed alongside artworks of some of the 20th century masters from the GAM permanent collection. The exhibition will account for some of the most representative artistic investigations of the last few years, highlighting their manifold relations to 20th century art. For the first time, the selected works by young artists such as Clément Rodzielski, Florian Roithmayr, Michael Dean, Vanessa Billy, Isabelle Cornaro, Thomas Hauseago, Salvatore Arancio, Andrea Büttner, Francesco Barocco and Steven Claydon, will be displayed in a public space in Italy.

This young generation of artists will convene with the works of masters such as Felice Casorati, Dadamaino, Giuseppe Penone, Sol Lewitt, Richard Serra and Giulio Paolini. The coexistence of historical and contemporary artworks will emphasize the multiple intertwined forms that make up the plot of historical references of our present time. It aims to relate different artistic languages through different exhibition styles and to illustrate how different generations of artists develop some common theories.

The accompanying catalogue will be published by Kaleidoscope, featuring color illustrations and contributions by the curators and art historians specialized in the subject.

I giovani che visitano le nostre rovine non vi vedono che uno stile /
The young people visiting our ruins see nothing but a style
kuratiert von FormContent 

Künstler: Salvatore Arancio, Francesco Barocco, Vanessa Billy, Andrea Büttner, Felice Casorati, Steven Claydon, Isabelle Cornaro, Dadamaino , Michael Dean, Simon Dybbroe Moller, Thomas Houseago, Sol Le Witt, Eliseo Mattiacci, Giorgio Morandi, Giulio Paolini, Giuseppe Penone, Seth Price, Clement Rodzielski, Florian Roithmayr, Mino Rosso, Alberto Savinio, Richard Serra, Woody Vasulka & Steina