Opening of the season of the choral monography by Yuval Avital realized for the Reggio Parma Festival 2022.

Sound Art, Video Art, Dance, Performance, Paintings, Sculpture, Score, Theatrical staging, Relational Artwork, Site-specific artwork.

Reggio Parma Festival 2022, Reggio Emilia and Parma, Italy, June-December 2022

Reggio Parma Festival, one of the most important and prestigious artistic festivals in the Italian territory, has been carrying out cultural promotion activities in the Parma and Reggio Emilia area since 2001, with the support of the Ministry of Culture, through the support of important theatre festivals such as Festival Aperto in Reggio Emilia and Teatro Festival and Festival Verdi in Parma.

In 2022, as a response to the forced disintegration imposed by the pandemic, the Reggio Parma Festival decided to take a further step in the direction of uniting the professionalism, specificity and potential of the theatres and cities involved, entrusting an artist, Yuval Avital, with the construction of an artistic itinerary that takes place from June to December through events, exhibitions, performances, installations, capable of involving, on a unique idea and project, the best artistic expressions, both local and national.

In occasion of Reggio Parma Festival, Avital conceived ‘Bestiario della Terra’ (‘Bestiary of the earth’), a powerful and evocative revisitation of the traditions that have strongly connoted the artistic, religious and scientific culture of this area of Emilia since the Middle Ages.
The project, of great expressive capacity, is realised in close collaboration with the three partner theatre foundations of the Reggio Parma Festival, Fondazione Teatro Regio di Parma and Fondazione Teatro Due di Parma. The artist has shared with these prestigious institutions the elaboration and definition of every single activity, in a virtuous interpenetration of talents and professions.

This macro-opera intends to explore the relation between Man, Animal and Hybridity, addressing ontological questions on the nature of man. Where is the boundary between man and animal? What is a body? Who, and where, is the monster? The artist dives into these themes employing all artistic media he has experimented so far as drawing, painting, photograph, video, sound and performance, for the realization of one of his most powerful and relevant works.

As in many of Avital's previous works, the creation of Bestiary of the Earth follows a dual path: the first linked to the process and the connections with the local population - a part where the choral, community experience is no less important than the final artistic product - the second concerning restitution, which aims to deliver to the public an emotion in the hic et nunc, but also to leave something that remains in time: a sign, a memory, a new key, integrated in the heritage of the land that welcomed it. 

TIMELINE OF EVENTS

Anatomie squisite

June 9 - July 24 2022 November 27 2022

In dialogue with the Spallanzani Collection of the Civic Museums of Reggio Emilia
Participatory monographic exhibition curated by Alessandro Gazzotti
Where: Musei Civici, Reggio Emilia
Sound Art, Video Art, Paintings, Sculpture, Relational Artwork, Installation

‘Anatomie Squisite’ is the first of four monographic exhibitions that the artist will present during the year. Set in an immersive and oniric environment, this exhibition represents a double starting point for the investigation of the Man-Animal duality: on one hand, it explores anatomies between art and science, in dialogue with Collection Spallanzani of Musei Civici. On the other it represents the beginning of an artistic journey envisioned by Avital, which traces the stages of existence; it represents childhood – thus dreams, wonder, subconscious, play. (Read more)



Il canto dello zooforo

June 10 - October 9 2022

Icon-sonic installation
Where: Casa del suono, Parma

‘Il Canto dello Zooforo’ is a sound sculpture made of cloth representing a female womb, the origin of life. The spectator will be able to enter the structure through a gateway, to find herself in a sonic space defined by children’s voices spread by over 200 speakers. The children will be reproducing the cry of each animal that appears in Zooforo by Antelami, the Parmesan masterpiece that inspired Avital’s work. Outside the sculpture, the room will be pervaded by a second original composition inspired by the Canticle of the Creations and performed by White Voices Choir of Teatro Regio di Parma. (Read more)

Mural Cadavere exquis

Permanent installation

"Cadavere Exquis" by Yuval Avital realized by Simone Ferrarini
Where: Magazzino Farmacie Comunali Riunite Reggio Emilia
Mural paintings

A mural designed by Yuval Avital and realized by Simone Ferrarini will embellish the walls of the Magazzino Farmacie Comunali Riunite Reggio Emilia starting from its inauguration in July. The murals are a reproduction to scale of some selected drawings of Avital’s very own Cadavre Exquis, which will be presented for the first time in Anatomie Squisite. (Read more)



Lessico animale

July 7 - September 10 2022  October 16 2022

Exhibition curated by Cristiano Leone
Where: APE Parma Museum, Parma
Video Art, Performance, Paintings, Sculpture

‘Lessico Animale’ is an exhibition curated by philologist and performance art expert Cristiano Leone. The exhibition showcases video-art and photographs collected during a 1-week intensive laboratory, where the artist worked with 20 performers on the research and expression of their inner, visceral animal side. This is the second stage of Avital’s journey. It represents adolescence: research, instinct, discovery. (Read more)

Persona

September  10 - October 30

Monographic exhibition promoted by Parma 360 Festival of Contemporary Creativity, in collaboration with Reggio Parma Festival. Curated by Chiara Canali and Camilla Mineo
Where: Palazzo Marchi, Parma
Sound Art, Sculpture, Score

‘Persona’ is a monographic exhibition by Yuval Avital, curated by Chiara Canali and Camilla Mineo, in collaboration with Reggio Parma Festival. The show held in the halls of the eighteen - century Menchi Palace, in the center of Parma. The artist, by presenting about 40 works between sculpture, singing masks, videoart, soundart, photography and site-specific unpublished installations, inquire maturity, as the third step of his opus “ Il Bestiario della Terra”. The installations will be open to the public from September  10th to October 30th. (Read more)

Membrane

October 1st – November 13th 2022

Monographic exhibition curated by Marina Dacci
Where: Chiostri di San Pietro, Reggio Emilia
Video Art, Dance, Performance

‘Membrane’ is the vastest exhibition of the program. It showcases, under the curatorship of Marina Dacci, several paintings, drawings and sculptures of the artist, as well as a brand-new version of Foreign Bodies (photograph + video-art), created specifically for Reggio Parma Festival. This is the fourth and final stage of Avital’s artistic journey: a transcendental momentum, a pulse to leave one’s own membrane and ascend towards the sky, finally reuniting with Nature. (Read more)

Mostrario

Mostrario is the major point of the macro-opera conceived by Avital. It is the artist’s own revisitation of medieval bestiaries, where traditional elements are reinterpreted and enlivened in a contemporary perspective, acquiring new significance. The representation of 20 different scenes will pervade all the three partner theatres - prestigious landmarks for the territory of Reggio Emilio and Parma -, involving a variety of art forms that range from musical theatre to sculpture, from performance art to installation. Mostrario will be presented in three phases. (Read more)

Mostrario. Part I

November 18th – 20th 2022

Where: Teatro Regio, Parma
Sound Art, Video Art, Dance, Performance, Paintings, Sculpture, Score, Theatrical staging, Site-specific installations.

Mostrario. Part II

December 2nd - 4th 2022

Where: Teatro Due, Parma
Sound Art, Video Art, Dance, Performance, Paintings, Sculpture, Score, Theatrical staging, Site-specific installations

Mostrario. Part III

Dec. 10th – 11th 2022

Where: Teatro Valli e Teatro Ariosto, Reggio Emilia
Sound Art, Video Art, Dance, Performance, Paintings, Sculpture, Score, Theatrical staging, Site-specific installations