#ArtissimaLive Back to the Future: 10 Years in Retrospect

LYNNE COHEN
Police Range, 1990
Silver gelatin print
101×136,5 cm
Courtesy of the Estate of Lynne Cohen and Galerie In Situ – fabienne leclerc, Paris

Artissima celebrates a decade of Back to the Future

 
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Back to the Future section at Italy’s contemporary art fair Artissima in Turin, research has been conducted to analyze the success of artists whose works were presented as a part of this section since its conception in 2010. The research takes a look at annual auction sales as well as the number of exhibitions the artists have had since they were featured in Back to the Future, and sorts the data into several macro-categories such as genre, origin, and media. A retrospective look at itself seems only fitting for a section dedicated to the past’s effect on the present. The overview will the be presented during the art fair, which takes place on November 1-3.

LILIANE LIJN
Early Events (Paradise Lost), 2000
Patinated bronze, fused tiles, sand, Perspex lens, video, Perspex case, MDF base and media player
36×52.5×52.5 cm
Courtesy Courtesy Liliane Lijn and Rodeo, London/Piraeus
Photo: Stephen Weiss

To look back at the origins of Back to the Future, we need to travel back to 2010, when Francesco Manacorda (currently Artistic Director at the V-A-C Foundation) was Director of Artissima, and founded this new section dedicated to a retrospect view of artists and their influence on the art and artists of today. Instead of focusing on more contemporaneous subjects, Back to the Future concentrated on artists working between the 1960s and the 1990s. As the title might suggest, it is essentially a look back at how the pioneers of the past inspired the innovators of the future.

MICHAEL VENEZIA
Untitled MVNY #867, 1971
Oil based metabolized powders on paper
61×66.2 cm
Courtesy Häusler Contemporary and the artist
Photo: Günter König

In 2014, the Sardi per l’Arte Foundation – a private institution in Turin founded by Pinuccia Sardi to support modern and contemporary art – began awarding the Sardi per L’Arte Back to the Future Prize to artists in this section based on their historical relevance, and the presentation of their booth at the fair. Last year, at Artissima 2018, it was taken home by Rolf Julius and Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt – represented by Thomas Bernard-Cortex Athletico, Paris and ChertLüdde, Berlin, respectively.

WILLIAM WEGMAN
Caution Men Working, 1984
Ink on Paper
35,5 cmx30 cm cm
Courtesy Florence Loewy / William Wegman Studio

This year’s edition of Back to the Future will include 19 artists represented by 19 different galleries, 3 of which are Italian. The committee for Back to the Future is coordinated by Lorenzo Giusti (Director, GAMeC – Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Bergamo), with a curatorial team comprised of Cristiano Raimondi (independent curator and Artistic Director of Società delle Api) and Nicolas Trembley (independent curator, art critic and curator of the SYZ Collection in Geneva).
The jury for the Sardi per l’Arte Back to the Future Prize will consist of Marcella Beccaria (Chief Curator, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli-Turin), Iwona Blazwick (Director, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London), Christine Macel (Chief Curator of Contemporary Art, Centre Pompidou, Paris), and Lisa Parola (independent curator, Turin).

Back to the Future / Artissima
1-3 November (preview 31 October) 2019
Oval Pavilion, Turin (Italy)

ENDRE TÒT
Untitled (Lay-out Painting), 1988
acrylic on canvas
150×120 cm
Courtesy artist and acb Gallery
Photo: Dávid Tóth