10 February 2012
Public space can be inhabited in different ways: it is a place of negotiation and exchange, a site of resistance and dialectics. The mission of ZegnArt Public, is to explore this range of possibilities within vastly different social and cultural contexts.
India is the first country of intervention for ZegnArt Public. The selected city is Mumbai, a context that couldn’t be more charged, complex, challenging and exciting. In its first edition, ZegnArt Public will test the notion of public space vis-à-vis the urban fabric of India’s most densely populated metropolis.
ZegnArt Public’s institutional partner in Mumbai is the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, the city’s oldest museum, whose collection documents the applied arts and everyday life of nineteenth century Mumbai. Under the guidance of the director, Mrs. Tasneem Mehta, the museum has opened its doors to contemporary art, with an ambitious and far-sighted program of Indian artist. The institution has been selected on the basis of a common vision of art as a method of advancement and awareness of a community.
The jury, which included Gildo and Anna Zegna, on behalf of Ermenegildo Zegna Group; Tasneem Zacharia Mehta, Jyotindra Jain and Minal Bajaj on behalf of the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum and Andrea Zegna, project coordinator, identified Reena Kallat as the winner among three finalists.
Symmetrically and in connection with the public artwork commissioned in India, ZegnArt Public offers a grant to support a young Indian artist for a four month residency at MACRO, Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome, Italy. A second jury consisting of the Director of MACRO Bartolomeo Pietromarchi, Tasneem Mehta, Andrea Zegna, Cecilia Canziani and Simone Menegoi has chosen the artist Sahej Rahal, offering him the opportunity to present the works developed throughout the stay in a special exhibition held within the space used as a studio.
