Memory is what exists and co-exists contemporaneously in everything, in the eternal, magical and mysterious sense, in as much as it takes the form of a truly philosophical image. In creating art, the aspect of memory does not coincide with, nor does it even touch the dimension of recollection.

Rather, it is an image thought of or a thought imagined (the relationship is inevitably reversible), within which to allow the flow of passages, signs, scraps of something indefinable that has to do with the eternal, with whatever exists in an individual’s intuition and is expressed in a collective feeling.

If to these few, short considerations we add the historic atmosphere of the city of Ferrara – which was the first to give visionary aesthetic revelation to the artists who lived there – it is not hard to understand the birth and structure of an exhibition such as “Traces of Memory”, designed and staged by Paola Trevisan inside the Estense Castle.

It is a varied exhibition which has brought together the works of dozens of international artists, all of whom, each from his or her own individual stylistic perspective, have considered the aspect of memory in relation both to themselves and to the city which has been their home. They show a many-sided world of ideas formed around things that are just as they appear to be, authentic sources of revealed and magically enigmatic visions.

Among the writings in De Chirico’s “Memoirs”, allusions can be found to Ferraran interiors, rooms, workshops and some of the streets in the old ghetto, all viewed and reconsidered within the mysterious dimension of the “hyper-real”, that spontaneous, important expression in which time is not allowed to become past.

It is an unedited vision which records everyday experiences, common events or objects, among the eternal signs of memory or, rather, of an art of memory through which to practise the subconscious sense of the already known or the experience of a future which has features of the old.

In its vast display of disparate artistic techniques and expression, “Traces of Memory” has not diluted this central character that, in sudden revelation, acknowledges that absolute of magical, aesthetic, immediate, even considered values that will never cease to interest the most demanding sector of the public, who will be leaving the halls of the Estense Castle hugging a dream, clutching a mystery.

I first would like to thank the De Nittis Foundation from Barletta for their pleasant invitation to curate the International Section of foreign artists coming from various countries I had the delight to work with in the near past.

But I also would like to thank all artists who gave me the opportunity to show an exhibition of rare quality and thickness; working and meeting great artistic characters and the different cultures you belong, is an unceasing source of confrontation and stimulation not only for my profession but also for my personality.

To me it’s a joy the fact many international artists gave their enthusiastic adhesion to the proposal of exhibit in this important manifestation taken in such charming sceneries. The authors, in these prestigious historical Castles of Trani and Barletta will freely employ and deploy their pictorial gestures, their colours, their signs, their feelings and their memories, confronting each other with great harmony, even in the diversity of their expressive forms.

The meeting between artists with a deep pictorial sensibility and with a great creativity, gifted of real talent and with that mastery permits to range with confidence over all types of expression and artistic language, represents a motif of exchange and dialogue inside the exhibition enriching it also culturally.

The exhibition aims to evidence the emotional and memorial aspect of making art. Each showed painting and photograph it’s a result involving deept thoughts, perceptions, feelings and memories behind; painting, psychical reality, inquitetudes of existing appears, flue to the canvas or through the shot, joining conscious and unconscious. This way artist, in the rooms of their memory, make dialogue distance and presence, fantasy and story, truth and fiction letting the viewers discovering the traces and the signs of their intentions.

The confrontation born among the strong and different artistic personalities, without taking off any overall harmony, is inspired and guided by the Art, able to get through any physical or geographical border. This extraordinary aspect demonstrates, once more, how in the contemporary artistic panorama, emotions, spirit, memories and communication still being deeply and indissolubly connected to the Art and to our Lives.

Paola Trevisan

“Landscapes” is an international Exhibition aiming to gather established and emerging, Italian and foreign, young and less younger, artists who have choosen the beauty and the charm of the landscape, and in general, of the Nature, as their inspiration fount. Participating artists will freely employ and deploy their pictorial gestures, their colours, their settings with the attempt to define experiences, memories, sensations, emotions, visions and they will confront each other with great harmony.

“Landscapes” won’t be a traditional Exhibition. The basic idea is not born to go toward the public tasting but to give the right and aesthetic value to a pictorial kind of painting that has always existed and given emotions; protagonist of the most important art museums. Yet, this painting will be a subject to the criticism whether of being too easy or elementary to paint. The Exhibition wants to go beyond the limit of a simple representation of the landscape. Rather, it will be proposed the idea of lively and secret Nature that, still able to stimulate a poetic sense of amazement amongst viewers. Thanks to the different artistic expressions of this theme that theme manages to provoke. We will face romantic visions, abstractions, Naif tales, airy, fresh, sunny landscapes – painted en plain air as requires the impressionistic tradition – and Mediterranean horizons. We will also admire intimate natures that merge realist and dreamy visions together.

Inside the exhibitive path, a large universe versatility, made by exterior and interior world, will be revealed. While the artists will be painting the selected landscape, pour a series of emotions whether consciously or unconsciously, only belongs to their universe. Life drawing solicitations, reminiscences, and visual traces of memories guide us in a sweet abandon between reality and fiction which would make us forgetting the vision for emotion.

Only artists’ glances and their souls can reveal what Nature has stored for us with its secrets, its charms and its wonderful fruitages.

The organizers, during the Exhibitions at the Estenese Castle, will select and bring artists together as representatives of this kind of spiritual and artistic research. Artists’ works have to preserve the “landscape” theme and believe in the emotional possibilities that this artwork offers. The range of expressive forms can be extremely wide and varied: painting, sculpture, photography, digital art, and graphic.

On this artistic and cultural occasion, the Jury will award the "Filippo De Pisis" Prize to the artist who displays the most significant artworks during the Exhibition. The “Emerging Artist” Prize will tend to give prominence to emerging artists and to more protagonists of the artistic and contemporary scenery.

The curators will also make sure to involve Institutions, critics, operators, collectors, press and specialized media. As well, they will underline the approach of the cultural and of the marketing aspect of this event, which is an inseparable feature of contemporary art.

Paola Trevisan

Luckily we have not yet reached the 'ground zero' of art, as Jean Baudrillard predicted, even though, sadly, very much of his pessimistic prediction has already turned into reality. Yet there are many artists today who still feel the need to dirty the canvas and to pour the burden of their emotions upon it, to express those feelings and moods they experience during the act of painting and as well as those which constantly flow though them.

"Emotions in motion" is an International Exhibition aiming to gather established and emergent, Italian and foreign, artists who still concern themselves with the attempt to define experiences, memories, sensations, visions and, also -- why not? -- premonitions.
Participating artists will freely employ and deploy their pictorial gestures, their colours and signs in order to get as close as possible to the psychological sphere: those feelings, emotions, and moods that make up our spiritual dimension.

"Emotions in motion" intends to give space to this kind of artistic research, to an art that finds its strength in the expressive power of sign, colour, subject, and visual impression, since our sight is ineluctably attracted to the canvas that is bathed in evocation.

Artists representative of this kind of spiritual and artistic research will be brought together with those artists who still believe in the emotional possibilities that art offers. The range of expressive forms can be extremely wide and varied: painting, sculpture, photography, digital art, and installation.

On this artistic and cultural occasion, the Jury will award the "Ercole d'Este" prize to the artist who shows the most significant artworks during the Exhibition.

The choice of scenery for the "Emotions in motion" Exhibition was selected to complement this general frame of artistic and emotional research. The beautiful and evocative setting provided by the "Imbarcadero Rooms" of the historic Este Castle that dominates the city centre (which was turned into a Museum last July) shows how "Emotions in motion" aims to be an Exhibition that moves outside the conventional norms of profile exhibitions.

The curators will also make sure to involve critics and operators in the event, underlining how they approach the cultural and marketing side of the event, which is an inseparable aspect of contemporary art.

Paola Trevisan