The colors of freedom

On the occasion of Biennale Democrazia 2023, entitled Ai confini della libertà, Palazzo Madamapresents, from 17 March to 8 May, The colors of freedom: a broad visual reflection inside the Medieval Court around to the theme "Imagining freedom" declined according to the four natural elements - air, water, earth and fire - the foundation of life and common to all cosmogonies.

The museum, which hosts four meetings of the Biennale Democrazia 2023, has commissioned four young Italian illustrators a series of illustrations aimed at offering a possible imaginary reference.

Manfredi Ciminale – author for Einaudi, Il Saggiatore, L'Espresso, Il manifesto and Linus – developed the theme of the Freedom of the Air; Antonio Zeoli – illustrator and cartoonist for Rai, Mondadori, Rizzoli Lizard, Feltrinelli, Sergio Bonelli Editore – the theme of the Freedom of water; Luca Font – artist for la Repubblica, Il Sole 24 Ore, Galleria Campari – the theme of Freedom of the earth and finally Elisa Talentino – whose main clients include The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Corriere della Sera – articulated the Freedom of Fire. Four artists to make one of the myriad possible declinations of the theme of freedom an image and suggest the start of a path that can stimulate the visitor to reflect on the representation of freedom in the arts, from literature to music, from cinema to television, from painting to sculpture and architecture.

The new works are accompanied by 11 other illustrations, in an installation that partially incorporates what was commissioned in 2022, on the occasion of the annual session of the Interministerial Committee for Foreign Affairs in Turin, with the Europe project. The Italian illustration tells the Europe of peoples, so as to allow for a broader reflection on how freedom should be the fulcrum of contemporary thought about the future, since it is the fundamental theme of every democratic system from the French Revolution onwards.