Like the previous editions of ARTIGIANATO E PALAZZO craft workshops and their commissions, the forthcoming 14th edition of the Exhibition will bring together, in the splendid Corsini Garden in Florence, over one hundred of the most extraordinary and capable Florentine, Italian and European craftsmen, involving some 8,000 attentive and curious visitors over the three days of the exhibition alone. In addition to the important cultural and popular contribution in itself, the Exhibition will stimulate a moment of in-depth study on the “minor arts”, with the intention of bringing them ever closer to our everyday life, thus breaking away from the traditional canons of other Exhibition-Markets.
The ARTIGIANATO E PALAZZO Exhibition was mainly born from the idea of re-evaluating and reframing the figure of the craftsman and his work in our times, considering it a high expression of quality and technique, linked to the client, but insisting on the idea of a craftsmanship that is ‘modern’ by nature, without forgetting the fundamental element of tradition. There was also a desire to emphasise the strong social relevance of the craftsman of the past whose workshop often thrived around the palace, understood as a ‘showcase’ and a place for experimentation, in continuous exchange with patrons of all classes, benefiting from a direct relationship with the population and tradition as the holder of social aesthetics. Also for this 14th edition, we start from the idea that in the handicraft, creation never ends and each work is not equal to another. And speaking of ‘handmade’ (from the Latin ‘manu facere’: to make with the hands), the exhibitors at ARTIGIANATO E PALAZZO are once again called upon to demonstrate live the various working techniques in which they excel.
The Palazzo Corsini sul Prato, commissioned to Bernardo Buontalenti at the end of the 16th century, hides one of the most interesting Italian gardens in Florence, designed and created by Gherardo Silvani, with a wide central avenue adorned with statues of degrading sizes to accentuate the perspective effect, flower beds, box hedges, bases for lemon basins and its spacious and luminous Limonaie (lemon houses) that rise up behind the boundary wall that delimits the garden on Via della Scala, from where they have their entrance.
2008 PROGRAMME:
Thursday 15 May
12.00/14.00 Press conferences
drinks
13.30 Press Preview of the Exhibition
“Capucci and Casentino: between experimentation and craftsmanship”.
Friday 16th
9.00/14.00 International Conference
“Knowing, Making and Living the Art Professions: Museums, Promotion, Education and Training in the Art Professions”.
organised by the Observatory for the Art Professions
of the Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze (entrance by invitation)
10.00 Opening of the Exhibition to the Public
10.30 Opening of the Exhibition
“Capucci and Casentino: Between Experimentation and Craftsmanship
11.00 Opening of the Exhibition
“The Young Florentine Genius: Doccia Porcelain”.
Competition on porcelain creativity and decoration
12.00 Awarding of the Prize
“The Young Florentine Genius: Doccia Porcelain”.
16.00 Presentation of the book by Laura Casprini Gentile
“Porcelain in Florence: history and technique between craft and industry”
organised by the Fondazione di Firenze per l’Artigianato Artistico
and the Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze
Saturday 17th
10.00 Special philatelic cancellation by the Italian Postal Service
12.30 Presentation of the installation
“The Cold Buffet” by Marlène Mangold
17,30 Presentation of the English-Japanese edition of Pilar Lebole’s book
“Florence: Guide to the Art Professions”
organised by the Fondazione di Firenze per l’Artigianato Artistico
Sunday 18th
19.00 Awarding of the “Perseo Prize – Banca CR Firenze” to the
to the exhibitor most appreciated and voted by the public
drinks
20.30 Closing of the Exhibition
Every day
Free guided tours of the Corsini Garden by the Hidden City Association
Home-made bar and restaurant
With the ARTIGIANATO E PALAZZO project we hope, by bringing together an increasingly large group of master craftsmen from all over Italy, to catalyse the attention of a vast and attentive public on these debated topics, hoping for a lively interest on the part of the parties involved: the craftsmen and their clients.