Finding Meaning is a tool for remembering, pondering, and coping with our traumatic pandemic experiences. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross identifies 5 stages of grief: Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. We have seen the world going back and forth through these different stages: We have experienced them ourselves. Many countries have ignored reality until it was too late. We got angry about the restrictions, trying to bargain a quick way out. We have been in the darkest hole of sadness. But it is in the acceptance where the power lies. We can’t undo what happened: What can we do now?
... The exhibition has been developed in collaboration with students from the courses of “Western Art History” and “Art and Cultural Heritage” at the School of Arts of Nanjing University during Spring ’20. Far and foremost, this is a project by and for our students, who are the bearers of the torch of healing: They are our only hope to create a world where these tragedies will not affect the lives of millions.
The Curators
ANDREA BALDINI
is Associate Professor of Aesthetics and Art Theory at the School of Arts of Nanjing University and Director of NJU Center for Sino-Italian Cultural Studies. He holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Temple University (Philadelphia, USA), where he studied as a Fulbright Fellow. His research interests are in aesthetics, philosophy of art, and visual culture. Since 2015, he is the coordinator of the Jinling Artist-in-Residence Program of Nanjing University. He also an independent curator who has worked internationally.
PIETRO RIVASI
is internationally recognized as one of the most prominent curators of urban arts. While starting his career as a graffiti writer in the mid 90s, he became interested in curatorial practices in 2002 by organizing pioneering graffiti and street art related events such as Icone and Quadricromie. At that same time, he began his longstanding collaboration with some of the most influential magazines in the field, including Garage Magazine and Graff Zoo. Since 2005, he has been responsible for curating the collection of urban arts books at the public architecture and art library “Luigi Poletti.” The year 2009 signals the beginning of his curatorial trajectory in galleries and museums (Spazio Avia Pervia, D406). In 2015, he participated as a curator in the exhibition, “The Bridges of Graffiti,” an event related to the 56th Venice Biennale.