Opening this weekend and on until the end of September 2021, the botanical gardens Corsini Orto Botanico will flourish with artworks, tackling the urgent theme of our relationship with Nature.
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From Saturday 17h July to the 30th September 2021, in the beautiful cultural heart of Italy – between Florence and Rome – Association Corsini Orto Botanico in Porto Ercole will host ‘Endgame’. With a series of strong sculptural interventions, this exhibition will show works by a selection of artists.
As we would explore an unknown jungle, the rich variety of elements are surprising and intriguing. This exhibition requires us to be curious, exploring and discovering the environment, and how the artworks and vegetation mix in relation to one another. Curated by Luia Corsini and Massimo Mininni, it underlines the possibilities, paradoxes and the incoherent way we live on this Planet.
The title is taken from Samuel Beckett’s work. The Irish play-writer’s ‘Endgame’ is a one-man act of a man lamenting about what his life could and would have been if things had been different – the endless ‘what-ifs’ that are no longer possible.
In this case, ‘Endgame’ does not talk about one person’s life – it is the life of our planet which takes centre stage. The exhibition has been created around the absurdity of how we celebrate nature but at the same time destroy it, giving us the opportunity to reflect on the ‘would-haves’ and ‘could-haves’ of our relationship with the Earth.
The use of this title casts an impending light on the times in which we are living. The contradictory relationship we have with Nature has brought us to the climate emergency urging us to dramatically change the way we live in a time of stillness like that of the pandemic. It is a paradox.
The artworks in ‘Endgame’ bring depth to this complicated topic, presenting shades, angles and materials which are in dialogue with us and the surroundings of the blossoming botanical gardens. They are a material presence, giving us space to reflect and change our point of view – questioning where we stand and how we see (destroy and misuse) Nature.
The collective brings together diverse cultural perspectives with Mexican artists Esteban Fuentes de Maria, Carlos Garcia, Fernando Ocaña and Bosco Sodi Agnes; Italian artists Federica di Carlo, Desideria Corsini, Henryk Corsini, Luia Corsini, Marzia Gandini, Charlie Masson, Pietro Pasolini, Malù dalla Piccola, Benedetto Pietromarchi, Annie Rattie Tristano di Robilant, Baldassare Ruspoli and Alessandro Twombly; Belgian artist Stijn Cole, Sol Bailey Barker and David Worthington from the UK.
These artists’ works display different artistic approaches, showing how human beings – in different parts of the world and of different environments – perceive themselves in relation to the Earth.
It is a grounding exhibition, which gives special attention to our position and our relationship with the nature which surrounds us. It presents us with a new way of living the botanical garden, creating an ongoing dialogue with the plants. Here, the conversation is about that relationship between the different elements, the garden, the plants and the materials, with the human element which transforms and shapes it.
‘Endgame’ gives us space for contemplation and reflection. The curators and artists give us a unique precious opportunity to embrace an urgent and necessary fresh perspective on the beauty of the world. A world that we should cherish but too often take for granted.
