NITSCH: ARENA. OPERE DALL’OPERA

April 24th 2016 - September 13th 2018
MUSEO NITSCH, Vico Lungo Pontecorvo, Napels
The MUSEO NITSCH di Napoli is celebrating its seventh anniversary with a radical change to its collection: Arena. Opere dall’opera is an extraordinary event presenting a wide collection of “wrecks” from Hermann Nitsch’s theatrical actions from the sixties to date under the constant and refined patronage of Giuseppe Morra, a tireless intellectual at the service of Art, which he continues to present through unusual socio-cultural projects.
This wide-ranging exhibition marks a new stage in the research of the “Museo Archivio Laboratorio per le Arti Contemporanee Hermann Nitsch” in Naples, founded by Morra in 2008, confirming its mission to collect, display and define the hermeneutics of Nitsch's production. Opere dall’opera will analyse the genesis, development and semantic link with the Orgien Mysterien Theater (Theatre of Orgies and Mysteries) that Nitsch founded in 1957, a total work of art, which encapsulates his entire philosophy and artistic practice.


The “wrecks” on show, while being closely associated with the performance from which they derive, should be seen as a chance to live once more the aura of awe and worship that permeate these objects with their strong sensual charge, their references and suggestions. With Cartesian precision, Nitsch aligns and arranges materials - hot and cold, natural and artificial - on tables and large platforms, assembling the traces of blood and organic matter from his performances together with the limpid clarity of sugar cubes or the glacial perfection of surgical instruments in “an ideal unitary synthesis of the work” as Nitsch defines them.
For Giuseppe Morra, the Museo Nitsch, a nineteenth-century former powerhouse in the heart of the city proves to be another important element in an activity that now aims to involve the ancient Avvocata district in an urban renewal project, reclaiming historical buildings and abandoned sites for training purposes and a whole range of forms of artistic production. The Quartiere dell'Arte (the Art District) thus aims to set up a network bringing together various parties involved in the historic district, and to create opportunities and spaces for meeting, study and analysis. The area has already been approved by Unesco whereas the project is now set to take shape.
Naples is also celebrating the 70th birthday of Peppe Morra, who opens this new season of large-scale projects at the service of art and the city itself. Since 1974, when he opened his first gallery in Naples, collector and patron of the arts Giuseppe Morra has been exploring the expressive possibilities that spring from the encounter between art and life. For him, Art is “the only means of bringing to the surface his cry for freedom”. From its very inception, Studio Morra has been a reference point for new experiences: documentation, promotion and experimentation with new languages n twentieth-century visual arts, but also in poetry, art publishing, theatre and music.
Apr. 7 – May 19 2018
König Gallery
259-269 Old Marylebone Road
London
Jan. 28th - Mar. 3rd 2018
Paul Kasmin Gallery
293 Tenth Ave
NYC
Jan. 11th – Feb. 17th 2018
Cristin Tierney Gallery
540 West 28th St
NYC
Jan. 9th - Mar. 6th 2018
Arnot Gallery
525 West 20th St
NYC
Jan. 9th - Feb. 24th 2018
Allan Stone Projects
535 West 22nd St
NYC
Jan. 12th - Feb. 28th 2018
Lazinc
29 Sackville Street
London
Dec. 9th 2017 - Feb. 9th 2018
Sirona Fine Art
600 Silks Run
1240 Hallandale Beach
Florida
Nov. 28th 2017 - Jan. 27th 2018
GALLERY FIFTY ONE
Zirkstraat 20
Antwerp
Dec. 13th 2017 – Mar. 26th 2018
Centre Pompidou
Paris
Oct. 22nd 2017 – May 13th 2018
The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA
250 South Grand Avenue
Los Angeles
Nov. 25th 2017 - Jan. 5th 2018
Studio La Città
Lungadige Galtarossa 21
Verona
Dec. 5th 2017 - Feb. 3rd 2018
Galerie Springer
Fasanenstr. 13
Berlin
Nov. 30th 2017 – Jan. 13th 2018
Goodman Gallery Cape Town
Fairweather House, 176 Sir Lowry Rd
Cape Town
Sep. 20th 2017 – Jan. 07th 2018
IPC Museum
250 Bowery
New York
Nov. 11th - Dec. 23rd 2017
Blain|Southern Berlin
Potsdamer Straße 77–87
Berlin
Dec. 1st - Dec. 22nd 2017
Michael Hoppen Gallery
3 Jubilee Place
London
Nov. 4th 2017 - May 6th 2018
Museum für Angewandte Kunst
Schaumainkai 17
Frankfurt
Nov. 3rd 2017 - Feb. 18th 2018
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue
New York
Nov. 2nd - Dec. 23rd 2017
Fraenkel Gallery
49 Geary Street
San Francisco
Nov. 3rd - Dec. 19th 2017
Simon Lee Gallery
12 Pedder Street
Hong Kong
Oct. 27th - Nov. 25th 2017
Simon Lee Gallery
12 Berkley Street
London
Oct. 21th 2017 - Feb. 18th 2018
S.M.A.K.
Jan Hoetplein 1
Gent
Sept. 27th 2017 – Jan. 21st 2018
Whitechapel Gallery
77-82 Whitechapel High St
London
Oct. 18th - Dec. 18th 2017
Centre Pompidou
Paris
Oct. 6th 2017 - Jan. 7th 2018
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue
New York
Nov. 9th - 12th 2017
Grand Palais
Paris
Oct. 25th 2017 - Jan. 18th 2018
CCCB
Montalegre 5
Barcelona
Sept. 21st – Nov. 4th 2017
Sadie Coles HQ
The Shop, 62 Kingly Street
London