(27 September, 2016) The exhibition “Marcinella: 1956-2016”, the Italian photographer Giovanni Marinelli talks about a story that started after the Second World War about immigration, labour and subterranean paths that lead to the center of the earth filled with coal that stains hands and lungs. The exhibition is open until 8 October-4 December and will be inaugurated on 7 October at the Bois du Cazier museum in Marcinelle, Belgium. Marinelli restores a sentiment and a heritage that is embedded in the walls of the black-bricked homes, too similar a colour to let go of the difficult yet productive 20th century. The photographer isolates certain symbols and signs, deconstructing a narrative that sixty years later must be reconstructed, rethought and studied with the appropriate historical objectivity. The exhibition was organised by Zeitgeist Art Exhibit Group for the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the Marcinelle tragedy. It was curated by the critic Andrea Tinterri, the director of Bag Gallery and was sponsored by Mibact, the Italian Embassy in Brussels, the Italian Cultural Institute of Brussels and the Marche Region. The artist’s practice goes beyond recalling the past in itself, but he instead proposes a comparative study between the present and a recent past. It is a complex journey that dates back to 1946 following an Italian-Belgian protocol that called for an exchange between coal and manpower. It is a journey that includes ruins of the Second World War, Belgium’s necessity of manpower for its mines and Italy’s necessity to import resources at an affordable cost for the sake of reconstruction. The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue edited by Greta Edizioni. (Red)
