The 75th anniversary of the Declaration of Rights in the United Nations Building in Geneva had the Italian seal. Tomorrow 15 December, barring last-minute extensions, the exhibition ends "Art and Human Rights”, promoted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with the Genesi Association chaired by Letizia Moratti.
The minister Antonio TajanI had intuition in representing the link between universal rights, the planet in danger, art and the Italian Constitution. The Charter is updated based on emerging needs, as has recently happened for the protection of the environment and biodiversity. Due to climate changes and the effects on social relations, people have the right to be protected and saved.
It is a coincidence that the exhibition closes two days after the UN Cop28 Conference in Dubai. We will save the planet within the next 27 years it was written. A weak result far beyond the excitement of the first hours. Climate and rights are on the same inclined plane as democracies. But how many rights will we still see trampled on for the most varied reasons in the next 10, 20 years?
Now, an (Italian) government that has taken the Geneva initiative should perhaps also extend certain principles to those on the right who are still unprepared to defend rights, criticism and freedom. Finding a way to teach democracy by taking as a model the forms of art that are free for default. Yes it can.
Authoritarianisms do not tolerate free manifestations of thought and therefore it would be useful to remove any suspected by the political forces that govern the country. It would mean recognizing that “Italian art from the post-war period to today it has underpinned social issues, similar to those expressed by the Declaration". Environmental protection, we insist, has become as precious as peace.
The Italian Constitution as a model
The human rights proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 November 1948 are a document of recent world history.
The Italian Constitutional Charter is testimony to social and cultural life and the themes of the Declaration have inspired hundreds of artists.
16 Italians or those with acquired citizenship were selected for the exhibition and each of them was given a space to exhibit one or two works. To make everything more consistent with the anniversary, a text has been placed next to the works that connects them to a theme of the Universal Declaration.
The works of three masters were placed in clear evidence: the Venus of rags by Michelangelo Pistoletto, three copies of the Treccani Encyclopedia of Emilio Isgro, and Athletes of Herculaneum by Mimmo Jodice.
Then there are Still life by Irene Dionisio, On Walking and Alphabet of Rossella Cookies. The right to a healthy environment and sustainable agriculture is recognized in the Meridiane by Stefano Arienti, En route to the South by Elena Mazzi. Untitled is the work by Francis Offman, dedicated to freedom of movement. Mirror no Silvia Giambrone , Home Is Where You Leave Your Belt and The Fire Bites by Monica Bonvicini concern women's rights.
The video The Picture of Ourselves by Rä di Martino and the diptych Self Portrait as my Mother on the Phone and Self Portrait as my Father on the Phone by Silvia Rosi are connected to children's rights.Observer les Ètoiles by Victor Fotso, Nyie and Naître au monde, c'est concevoir (vivre) enfin le monde comme relationship of Binta Diaw they complete the path with the approach to multiculturalism.
In conclusion, the exhibition outlined a narration by chapters social and political ones that after the war were believed to have to close definitively in order for humanity to evolve. The figurative arts have recounted the defeats of at least two generations, but the Geneva event ends with the new dream of a pacified world
