The protagonist of the meeting will be Paola Scrolavezza, professor at the University of Bologna of Languages and Literatures of Japan and Korea, who will speak about The Body of the Other. When the exotic becomes erotic.
In the mid-800s - after more than two centuries of closure - Japan reopened its borders to overseas travellers: from the pages of Pierre Loti to the shots of photographers fascinated by the world that opened up to their gaze, to occupy center stage it is from the beginning the female figure. Symbol of an otherness in which Europe projects dreams and fears, the Japanese woman in the space of a few years arrives in the imagination to embody the essence of that mix of eroticism and exoticism that for a long time will make her the protagonist of the fantasies of 'overseas. What remains today of that fascination? The physicality and carnality of the female body (which still remains at the center of the scene) are still perceived and sought after for an exoticism linked to the attraction for 'different' somatic traits, which somehow seem to allude to a sort of innate sexual availability ? Or has the axis of interest shifted in contemporary photography – and literature –?
Participation in the event is free and provides for all those who wish to visit the exhibition: Secret Japan presents 140 original photographs, authentic masterpieces and the pinnacle of Japanese photography, which developed between 1860 and 1910. In this period, in fact, Japan was witness to an unusual union between Western photographic technique and the mastery of local painters, heirs of an ancient and refined tradition, capable of applying color perfectly even on tiny surfaces.
The artistic results were of astonishing beauty and the subjects represented were so lifelike that they were indistinguishable from modern color printed images. The production of these works responded to the needs of Western travelers - the so-called globetrotters - to bring with them the memory of an extraordinary country, which the forced modernization of the Meiji period (1869-1910) was rapidly transforming into an industrial nation.
The exhibition, curated by Francesco Paolo Campione, director of the Museum of Cultures of Lugano, and Marco Fagioli, with the patronage of the Municipality of Parma, is produced by GAmm Giunti, in collaboration with the Museum of Cultures of Lugano and the Ada Ceschin and Rosanna Foundation Pilone of Zurich who wanted to deposit his patrimony of Japanese works of art indefinitely at the Museum of Cultures in Lugano, so that it could be made available to the world of studies and art.
The body of the Other. When the exotic becomes erotic
Saturday 2 April 2016, 17.00 hours
Free admission
