With a new combination of languages ​​and interests, the Forte di Belvedere area lends itself this year to being enjoyed in a double register, hosting several figurative codes: from drawing to sculpture to photography, in a distinct coexistence of talents. The outdoor stands, among terraces and green areas, are populated by the animals of Davide Rivalta with the project My Land, curated by Saretto Cincinelli and Sergio Risaliti. Ten buffaloes, an eagle, a rhinoceros and two wolves: indomitable, almost timeless presences, in a ‘barbaric and wild’ invasion of places transformed from garden to free space. The rooms in the basement of the Forte, which this year boasts new exhibition spaces, will also host Rivalta’s site-specific drawings. The large figures of animals sketched on the walls illustrate and integrate the creative process of the sculptor, who expresses the strength of his art in the graphic lines. The four rooms are occupied by dozens of birds and a rhinoceros, an underlying tribute to two great artists of the Renaissance, evoked here in a sort of impossible encounter: Leonardo da Vinci, whose 500th death anniversary occurs this year, and Albrecht Dürer. While the former is remembered for the many drawings of birds, which the brilliant artist observed for his studies on flight, of the latter we know a print of 1512 depicting the rhinoceros Ulysses, so named by sailors on the sailboat Nossa Senhora de Ajuda, which transported the pachyderm to Portugal as a gift to King Manuel I. It should also be remembered that the success of this engraving and the fame of the animal in Europe was such as to induce Duke Alessandro de’ Medici to use the figure of the rhinoceros as a symbol in his personal enterprise, to which he associated the motto: “Non Vuelvo Sin Vencer”, ossia “I shall not return without victory”.  To recall the works in the Forte, Rivalta’s animals also invade other places in the city: a second rhinoceros is visible in the external space of the Cavea of the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

A different register is kept in the rooms on the first floor, which host the exhibition A percfect Day by Massimo Listri, curated by Sergio Risaliti. Listri’s works capture the eyes of visitors, catapulting them into the theatre of architecture, sculpture and painting. For the exhibition at Forte di Belvedere, Listri has taken some unpublished pictures of the Convent of San Marco, the Uffizi Gallery, Palazzo Vecchio and San Lorenzo, immortalizing the magnificent interior architecture of the Florentine Renaissance. Particularly interesting is the room dedicated to the Sagrestia Nuova in San Lorenzo, an undisputed masterpiece of architecture and sculpture by Michelangelo. Listri offers a panoptic view of the environment divided into four frames, all of which undergo a single and only formal interpretation. Perspective and homologating focus are the first hallmark of Listri, who rereads the poetic text of Buonarroti in conceptually contemporary terms.  No human presence violates the metaphysical dimension in the snapshots of these motionless and unspoiled places. In addition to these images, there are also ‘glimpses’ of industrial and historical spaces that Listri frames identifying in them modern visual codes, sometimes of shapeless or abstract language, paying attention to the formal and conceptual values that from the avant-gardes onwards condition our way of seeing and perceiving, of selecting and enhancing spaces and environments in the world.

BIO

Massimo Listri, born in 1953, began his career at a young age: at the age of 17 he worked for art and architecture magazines and, during his university studies in humanities, contributed to numerous photo shoots. In the course of his 30-year career, which boasts collaborations with prestigious European and American publishers, he has published over 70 books and held solo exhibitions in national and international museums.

Davide Rivalta was born and lives in Bologna, where he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, where he has been teaching sculpture since 2004. In 1998 he won a competition with a work for the courtyard of the Court of Ravenna: this was the beginning of his career and artistic evolution. Rivalta works with different techniques such as sculpture, painting and wall drawing. His works appear in many private collections and are installed in numerous public places.