On 11 November 2014 there was opened to the public, in the historic rooms of the natural history museum in Verona, the show AD NATURAM. Promoted by the ASLC progetti per l’arte association and the natural history museum together with ArtVerona, this group show of contemporary art has been curated by Angela Madesani. It has been organised by Studio la Città with the contribution of Amia and the support of Art&Co Digital Print Solutions.
The subject of nature has always been a source of inspiration for the world of art which, over time, has interpreted, reproduced, and proposed it with the use of different techniques, materials, and tools. A close collaboration with the keepers and scholars of the natural history museum in Verona, who study the scientific aspects of nature, has permitted the creation of an “overturned” occasion. Here it is the works of art that are the occasion for inquiring into a specific scientific as well as artistic argument, and vice versa. In fact the show’s aim is to analyse and highlight the ways of representing nature within recent art production, and to contextualise the work within the museum’s collection. Following this essential condition – on which the whole exhibition project is based – the exhibition itinerary presents the work of nationally and internationally famous contemporary artists and has developed around different themes and chapters: nature as the object of art; nature as the subject of art; nature and environmental questions. These themes have entered into an interactive dialogue with the various collections of the museum thanks to the scientific intervention of its scholars; this means that the works are not only a presence but a moment for participative reflection. It also means that if a work either refers to a scenario or to an element of nature, then that same scenario/element is dealt with in a scientific manner. Photography, installations, painting, drawing, video, and design have been the means through which the exhibition itinerary has been organised.