In March 2025, Museion will present a landmark exhibition about the relationship between graffiti and contemporary fine art. The first museum exhibition in Italy to investigate the art history of spray paint, Graffiti focuses on how the visual vernacular of the city and the street has entered the studio. Above all, the show contends that graffiti is a way of seeing and experiencing urban landscapes.
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Bringing together transdisciplinary works from across a 70 year period, the show centers on an approach that moves beyond the historization of graffiti as an “outsider” practice. Beginning with pre-graffiti spray paintings from the 1950s and 1960s, the exhibition unfolds through works by renowned graffiti writers of the 1980s, and contemporary artists who implement graffiti into their diverse practices.
Spray paint, the tool which characterizes contemporary graffiti, was patented in the United States in 1951. Between its introduction as a product in the 1950s and the late 1960s – when the form of graffiti that is widely recognized today was first practiced – there was a lapse of almost 20 years, during which fine artists also experimented with the tool. Once spray paint became the dominant style for graffiti writing, its subsequent use in any capacity became tied to graffiti. A simple line of spray paint immediately calls to mind associations with rebellion and urbanity, whether this is intentional or not.
Occupying 1,500 square meters across the two largest floors of Museion, the show features key works from the latter half of the 20th Century until the present day, as well as site-specific new works.
The exhibition is co-curated by New York based artist and archivist Ned Vena (b. 1982 Boston, USA). His artistic practice, which involves paintings, sculptures, installations, and films, was deeply informed by his active practice as a graffiti writer and his profound research into the history of graffiti; and vice versa, his thorough studies of the history of painting also shaped his understanding of graffiti. Both his personal dedication and cross-disciplinary archival knowledge manifest in the exhibition.
Artists: Yuji Agematsu, Chantal Akerman, Nick Atkins, Charles Atlas, Lutz Bacher, Martin Barré, Blade, Monica Bonvicini, Patricia L. Boyd, Dan Christensen, Shaun Crawford, Curtis Cuffie, René Daniëls, Daze, Manuel DeLanda, Melvin Edwards, Matias Faldbakken, Heike-Karin Föll, Futura 2000, Keith Haring, Jenny Holzer & Lady Pink, KAYA, Jutta Koether, Michael Krebber, Brad Kronz, Maggie Lee, Klara Lidén, Ilya Lipkin, Colette Lumiere, Kunle Martins, Jeanette Mundt, Georgie Nettell, Armando Nin, N.O.Madski, Clayton Patterson, Charlotte Posenenske, Josephine Pryde, Quik, Lee Quiñones, Carol Rama, Rammellzee, R.I.P. Germain, Matthew “Zexor” Rodriguez, Karin Sander, Seen, David Smith, Dash Snow, Ben Solomon, Hedda Sterne, Emily Sundblad, SoiL Thornton, Alix Vernet, WANTO, Lawrence Weiner, Dondi White, Martin Wong & LA2, Christopher Wool, Zephyr
Curated by Leonie Radine and Ned Vena
Text: Museion, Bozen
Photo: Luca Guadagnini - Lineematiche
