The Age of Metamorphosis: European Art from the Pecci Collection MOCA Shanghai

The Age of Metamorphosis: European Art Highlights from the Centro Pecci Collection
From July 22nd to August 29th of 2006, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai will collaborate with the Centro per l'arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato (Italy) in hosting the highly anticipated exhibition "The Age of Metamorphosis: European Art Highlights from the Pecci Collection". Curated by the Permanent Collection Department of the Centro Pecci, the exhibition reflects the contemporary artistic expression not only of Italy, but of all Europe since the 1980s.

The history of the Permanent Collection of the Centro Pecci runs parallel to the program of the temporary exhibitions that have taken place during the 17 years since its foundation. The selection breathed the character of an age, an incarnation of European art in recent twenty years.

The theme behind the exhibition project is focused on the significant testimony of contemporary art in Europe. The works chosen come from the various movements in contemporary European art held by the artists from Italy, Russia, Austria, France, England, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands. The exhibition project probes their relationships and various expressions, giving a vision of European art since the 1980s.

The artworks chosen for "The Age of Metamorphosis" manifest themselves through the following themes: reflections on the body in the area of identity and otherness, the idea of multiplicity, the problem of representation in art, the relationship between materiality and spirituality, the narrative form in art and myth as poetic element. Some of these themes are tied to the discussions that arose around the values of Modernism, negating the idea of linear progress, and they constitute a point of arrival after the long voyage begun at the time of the historical Avant Garde at the beginning of the Twentieth Century.

By hosting this exhibition, MoCA Shanghai intends to bring the European contemporary art to the Chinese audience. The exhibition will also serve as a great opportunity to promote the contemporary art scene within the country.