Val Bregaglia in summer offers up some delightful cultural highspots to be discovered one by one. There&´s a wealth of aesthetic treasures in the valley, scattered throughout from Maloja to Castasegna and beyond the borders.
Museo Ciäsa Granda, Stampa - This year the Ciäsa Granda museum is proposing two exhibitions, one linked to an important Bregagliotto academic and another even more exquisitely artistic. The 700th anniversary of Dante&´s death coincides neatly with the 120th of an interpreter of the "Somma opera": Giovanni Andrea Scartazzini native of Bondo in val Bregaglia. The analysis of the Divina Commedia by Scartazzini has long been regarded as a reference point at both scholastic and research level for study of the complete work. Giovanni Andrea Scartazzini has also published studies on Giordano Bruno, Galileo Galilei and on Gerusalemme liberata of Torquato Tasso. After life as a pastor in Soglio, Scartazzani left Bregaglia to settle in Fahrwangen in the canton of Aargau. The exhibition is curated by the historian Andrea Tognina. To mark the occasion the PGI research series is publishing the doctoral thesis by researcher Michele Sensini on the subject of Giovanni Andrea Scartazzini and his work. The Giacometti-Varlin space, annexed to the museum plays host to a plaster cast of the head of Alberto Giacometti, produced in Paris in 1927 by Otto Charles Banninger and the complementary canvas "Still Life with the head of Alberto" created by Giovanni Giacometti in 1929, also on temporary loan. This is the starting point of the exhibition curated by David Wille which will lead the visitor through a series of clays and portraits produced by Piero Del Bondio of Borgonovo which concludes with a space dedicated to young people within which they have the opportunity to exhibit paintings inspired by the valley.
Palazzo Castelmur, Coltura - The artist Miriam Cahn from Stampa, from Saturday 5th June, exhibits at Palazzo Castelmur – FREMD das fremde STRANIERITÀ – followed by a series of evening meetings in round table form which will address a range of inspiring themes
together with the artist.
Il Casello Rosso - At the exit to the village at the border town of Castasegna, not far from the Brentan settlement, Bruno Giacometti (1907-2012), built a customs house (in the late 50&´s) on behalf of the Confederation, in the form of a solitary independent building.
It represents the first example of a prefabricated construction in Bregaglia. The Association of the "travellers room" is introducing the appropriately-named sala viaggiatori, an exhibition space in Castasegna alongside its proposals. The starting point for the exhibition venue is that of the remaining building-pavilion of the former customs house. Today a waiting room for the autopostale bus. And now an exhibition space. The display area is independent and rather particular, doubling as a waiting space whilst demonstrating its genuine character, and somewhat limited capacity. Sure to come alive when themed exhibitions dedicated to the visual arts and the culture of everyday life are manifested, adopting an interdisciplinary and
cross-sectional approach.
“Occhi che non dormono” in a magical garden - The Centro Giacometti at Stampa is where the master&´s works sit to inspire new prompts and different interpretative forms of the contemporary world. Of the work, the curator Virginia Marano writes: The sculpture "Occhi che non dormono", by the Portuguese artist Rui Chafes, has found its perfect space in the gardens of the former Piz Duan hotel. Its ambitious gaze draws on infinity beyond the river Maira and surrounding mountain slopes. The eyes perceive, note and redesign the relationship between the landscape and the unseen. Thus, the observer finds himself immersed in an aesthetic experience of contemporary art and identifies the sharp profile that emanates from Giacometti&´s caged "Le Nez" in order to set off on an existential journey in search of the Absolute. Chafes visited Stampa on a trip to discover the historic and cultural roots of Alberto Giacometti. He reflects and conceptualizes the lines then transforms them in his Lisbon studio facing the ocean, into a metallic, ultra-fine and black drafting.
Then, hanging from a hook, the sculpture flies heroically among the trees of Piz Duan, in search of home: in the magical garden overlooking the river Maira. The inauguration is scheduled for June 2021.
