A retrospective (the first of its kind) dedicated to the versatile artist Hans Richter (Berlin, 1888 – Locarno, 1976) will be inaugurated at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Acri on June 30th. Richter, besides being one of the founding fathers of Dadaism, and fascinated by the infinite expressive possibilities he found in the cinematic arts, was a great experimenter of film.
The exhibit, made possible by a collaboration with the cultural association De Arte, and promoted by the association Oesum Led Icima, brings together 70 of Richter’s works, includes oils, collage, charcoals and drawings, silk-screenings and etchings, and Dadaist postcards and letters, all which testify to the artist’s inspiration and flair. Additionally, 28 important dada cinematic experiments go on show (with a few short films by Marcel Duchamp, Fernand Léger and Man Ray), enough to cover the span of Richter's entire artistic career, highlighting the consistency and continuity between his painting and films. This continuity, as even Richter himself has said, has allowed his works in diverse genres to develop his own new form of visual art.
Beginning on September 15 this year, a second exhibit featuring the work of seven of the winners of the “Young at Art” competition will appear along with the Richter exhibit. The seven artists are Walter Carnì, Giuseppe Lo Schiavo, Armando Sdao, Valentina Trifoglio, Giuseppe Vecchio Barbieri and the duo MILC, (Michele Tarzia and Vincenzo Vecchio), who, each in his or her own particular style, reinterpret their reactions to Richter’s art, giving life to reflections on the heritage of Dada in contemporary art. The young artists use a wide range of media: painting, sculpture, body art, vector graphics, photography and video art.