History

The Istituto Garuzzo per le Arti Visive (IGAV) is a no profit organization born in  2005 to promote contemporary Italian art, above all abroad. It was founded by Giorgio Garuzzo, his wife Rosalba Garuzzo Avaro, currently the chairman of the institute, and their son Carlo Arturo Garuzzo.

 

The institute is financed by the shareholders and, for specific events, by private sponsors and/or public bodies.

 

IGAV made its debut in July 2005 with the exhibition "Italian Art Class", an experimental event in London during which six artists from the new generations displayed their works at IGAV’s premises in Kensington and at a famous restaurant in Chelsea. The events took place from April 25th to May 21st and from May 23rd to June 18th 2005. As a complement to the exhibition, dance and musical events were also organized.

 

In 2006 on the occasion of the Year of Italy in China, IGAV took the exhibition "Nature and Metamorphosis" to Shanghai and Beijing: an exhibition of 68 works realized using various techniques (painting, sculpture, installation, photography and video) by thirty-six Italian artists. Through two works, each of them expressed the concept of nature and metamorphosis, with the aim of paying homage to the extraordinary capacity of Chinese painting to represent nature in all its forms. The exhibition concluded with an interlude in Spoleto in 2007.

 

In 2008 IGAV was the only Italian cultural organization present at "Qui vive? - 1st International Biennale for Young Art", with the exhibition "Beyond the Confines of the Body". The exhibition gathered the works of eleven emergent Italian artists, not yet contaminated by the rules of the market and therefore carriers of pure and free expressivity. The artists seek to dominate chaos by overcoming the limits of the body, forcing it to become form and image.

 

In 2008-2009 IGAV organized in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen "Subtle Energies of Matter", an international review of contemporary sculpture comprising the works of thirty-one Italian artists. The exhibition was intended to represent the evolution of sculpture, starting from the Avant-garde.

The exhibition presents one or two works by each artist, accompanied by sketches, models or photographs, thus offering the public a vision of the various artistic procedures and expressive languages used by each artist. The Asian tour of the exhibition concluded in Seoul, in September 2008, during the Year of Italy in Korea. The last venue of the exhibition was the town of Saluzzo (Cuneo) from April 4th to May 10th 2009.

 

In 2009 IGAV organized the Permanent Exhibition of Contemporary Italian Art in the nineteenth-century wing of the Castiglia, Saluzzo, in cooperation with the local authorities. The exhibition includes works from the IGAV Collection of Contemporary Art and works loaned by masters, but also by younger emergent or established artists, in a dynamic setting that intends to offer a representative cross-section of the evolving scenario of contemporary art in our country. The works currently on show form the basis of the Permanent Exhibition, destined to grow in the future.

 

During the Shanghai Expo 2010, IGAV and Premio Terna organized the exhibition "Contemporary Energy. Italian Attitudes. Terna Prize 02 and IGAV Utopia in Shanghai with 28 artists", in cooperation with the Italian Institute of Culture in Shanghai, directed by Paolo Sabbatini. An event that presents to an international public a realistic cross-section of the current Italian visual arts scenario. The works on display are, in part, by the fourteen artists who won the Premio Terna 02 dedicated to the topic of "Energy : Humanity = Future. The ratio for a new aesthetic." The exhibition also includes the fourteen works from the IGAV project "Utopia", born to pay homage to the fundamental concept of the Shanghai Expo (Better City, Better Life) and to propose, through the art of some of the greatest Italian protagonists, a musing on a theme rich in meaning and history.

 

Once again, in 2010, IGAV continued its experience at the Shanghai Expo, presenting during the closing events, the exhibition "2X010". The project, realized in cooperation with the Italian Institute of Culture in Shanghai, brings together Italian and Chinese artists, asking them to realize a work on paper, with pre-set dimensions (60cm x 40cm). The exhibition is conceived as an opportunity for bringing together two profoundly different worlds and cultures, both with a rich and ancient artistic history: Italy and China.

 

In 2011, the relationship between Italy and China became bidirectional, with an exhibition of young Chinese designers in Milan and Turin in occasion of the Year of China in Italy. "China New Design" opened on June 9 in Palazzo Chiablese (Turin) and on June 7 at Triennale of Design (Milan).Divided in two parts, with the mounting made by the students of the Albertina Academy of Art of Turin, the exhibition closed with a big success on September 11 2011: 18.591 visitors in Milan and 4.265 in Turin.This experience allowed people to discover the best Chinese designers, looking at the Asian contemporary art scene. New and different ideas and projects from a big nation.