Marco Nereo Rotelli will be participating at the 49th International Exhibition of Art (Special Projects section) as a guest of Harald Szeemann, with the installation Poetry Bunker; a celebration of over 500 poets from all over the world, the link between art and poetry. As is the case for the majority of work by this artist, the installation in Venice highlights Rotelli's desire to create a connection between the work of art and other forms of language, from literature to poetry and music, involving philosophers, musicians and poets. The installation is being put together with the collaboration of the Modern Art Collection of Milan and the contribution of Epson.
The project was inspired by the state of conflictuality between art and power created by Pasolini's film, La Ricotta, object of the most celebrated trial for "contempt" in Italian post-war history. The project is divided into three distinct phases:
Orsogrill: 500 poems donated by poet artists and non-poets from all over the world will be affixed or transcribed onto objects on the "keep out" iron fence that runs between the Corderie and the military zone of the Arsenale, creating a mobile and mental wall of poetry.
Bunker: As well as a poem by Pier Paolo Pasolini, the surface of a bunker will carry the sentences from the Rome court against the writer accused of contempt for the film Rogopag. The issue is: “Is it possible, through poetry, to re-construct a "free" mental dimension open to others, in other words a "further" dimension in terms of the unilateral thought of power?”
Incontri: here Rotelli proposes a “space for voice and thought”, namely an integral part of the project, or a visual work that makes use of the contribution of the multiple meanings that the poetical-philosophical material can provide. A cycle of three meetings which offers both the chance to savour the "state of things" and to have the words of the poems interact with that of natural counter-song: the philosophical logo.

The meetings will be co-ordinated by Massimo Donà and held at the gardens of the Tese delle Vergini as follows:
Tuesday 19 June 2001 4.30 pm – Mario Luzi, Andrea Zanzotto / Massimo Cacciari
Wednesday 27 June 2001, 4.30 pm – Tanko Maroevic, Edoardo Sanguineti / Gianni Vattimo
Thursday 28 June 2001, 4 pm – Mimosa Ahmeti, Tiziano Broggiato, Giuseppe Conte, Roberto Mussapi, Loretto Rafanelli, Bernerd Simenone / Giulio Giorello, Vincenzo Vitiello, Stefano Zecchi. Information: Istituto per gli studi filosofici di Venezia tel. 041-717940, fax 041-720510 e-mail: [email protected]

Poetry in action. A network of voices
Thursday 7 June starting at 11 am, Orsogrill at the Artiglierie
Performance arranged by Marco Nereo Rotelli and Adam Vaccaro, with the collaboration of the Cultural Association Milanocosa. The poet Alda Merini will distribute and read her poems on the freedom of thought and the body.
Web Project Caterina Davinio - Karenina.it