Italy is on show at the Olympics and
Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro with two important exhibitions and
exclusive coverage of the games by state broadcaster RAI.
Sport represents a major opportunity for Italy to
"demonstrate its excellence" and "a parallel challenge (to the
country) to present itself as a Country system with its
strengths and also with its appeal", said Culture Minister Dario
Franceschin and Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni at the
presentation of Rio 2016 at the foreign affairs ministry on
Thursday.
Further, the statue of Christ the Redeemer that dominates
Rio will be lit up with the colours of the Italian flag on
August 3, when Premier Matteo Renzi is due to inaugurate Casa
Italia.
Art takes centre stage at the Museum of Modern Art in the
coastal city until September 11 with work by 19 artists
including Maurizio Cattelan, Michelangelo Pistoletto and Luigi
Ontani, coming from the MAXXI museum of 21st century art and
architecture in Rome.
The exhibition 'Art on stage' curated by Anna Mattirolo,
which has already shown in Buenos Aires, presents a range of
media including arte povera, photography, video, drawings,
paintings and architectural drawings to narrate the various
languages of contemporary art.
"MAXXI is a laboratory of contemporary art and the future
and I believe it is important to take this Italy to Rio," said
MAXXI Foundation president and ex culture minister Giovanna
Melandri.
"We are working to make MAXXI an instrument of cultural
diplomacy. The appointment in Rio comes within in a difficult
geopolitical context and it is a special opportunity to open up
cultural frontiers," she added.
Franceschini also said that all state-run museums in Italy
would display an artwork linked to the theme of sport starting
from the first Sunday in August and for the duration of the
Games.
Back in Rio, the exhibition 'The games in Greece and in
Rome' curated by Eugenio La Rocca opens at the Museum of Fine
Arts on July 26.
The show presents 54 works subdivided into Olympic
disciplines, while a multimedia room presents 3D reconstructions
of the Flavian Amphitheatre (Colosseum), Circus Maximus and
Stadium of Domitian.
The exhibition also evokes the Olympics and Paralympics in
Rome in 1960.
"It is an exhibition to remind people how the Olympics
began. The prizes were very basic and poor. In the ancient games
the crowns were made from wild celery. The athletics
competitions have changed but a part remains and is well
represented in the more recent Olympics: javelin throwing,
boxing, wrestling. Other more dangerous competitions have
changed," La Rocca said.
Meanwhile, Italian state broadcaster RAI is to provide over
5,000 hours of broadcasting across all platforms "from the
opening to the closing of the Games", director general Antonio
Campo Dall'Orto said.
"We are faced with the double challenge tramnsmitting the
importance of representing ourselves to our country and
communicating the culture of the Country system. It is essential
that the public service broadcaster speaks to those who are
interested in Italy," Campo Dall'Orto continued.
Gentiloni described sport as "an instrument of diplomacy"
and as "an opportunity to send a message of friendship to Brazil
that is going through a complicated period that we are sure it
will overcome".
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