Hi Woman! La notizia del futuro

From 11 December 2021 Palazzo Pretorio brings 22 international artists to Prato for the Hi Woman! The news of the future by Francesco Bonami and promoted by the Municipality of Prato - Palazzo Pretorio Museum.

"With this exhibition, once again the Palazzo Pretorio Museum questions the theme of the dialogue between the many possible contemporaries, between past and present" declares Rita Iacopino, director of the Palazzo Pretorio Museum.
"We want to continue to offer our visitors an opportunity for reflection and new insights into our heritage", declares Simone Mangani, Councilor for cultural policies of the Municipality of Prato.
Thus Palazzo Pretorio with its exceptional collection welcomes 22 contemporary artists each with their own announcement to reveal to the spectators: Huma Bhabha, Irma Blank, Koo Donghee, Marlene Dumas, Isa Genzken, Jessie Homer French, Roni Horn, Jutta Koether, Andrew LaMar Hopkins , Maria Lassnig, Babette Mangolte, Lucy McKenzie, Aleksandra Mir, Susan Philipsz, Paola Pivi, Maja Ruznic, Jenny Saville, Fiona Tan, Genesis Tramaine, Andra Ursuta, Marianne Vitale, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye.
22 women not to respect a predictable political correctness but to underline the centrality of the female subject in ancient and contemporary narration.
22 artists who at the same time are in the role of the angel and the Virgin, who at the same time are bearers and recipients of an abstract, symbolic and profoundly concrete revolution.
"Hi Woman! The news of the future is the Pop transformation of the greeting of the angel Gabriel to Mary projected into the contemporary world. It is not a lack of respect, on the other hand Jesus himself in the Gospel never calls his mother Mother, Mother or Mary but "Woman". There is no more well-known theme in the history of the Annunciation. The Angel who gives news to the Virgin of the future that will arrive through Jesus. Beyond the religious connotation of the subject, the theme of the Annunciation is intrinsically always linked to art ", explains Francesco Bonami, curator of the exhibition.
Through painting, sculpture, video and sound, the 22 artists will invade the museum, engaging in dialogue with the works of the permanent collection, sometimes finding harmony, sometimes creating powerful and stimulating short circuits for the public. Annunciation is a word that contains multiple meanings that touch the reality of our sociality and communication and at the same time refer to one of the cornerstones of Western culture.
The artists on show announce different messages, distant mysteries and nearby realities, each with a powerful and meaningful work capable of sustaining comparison and dialogue with the masters of antiquity.
The work of art is the angel and the viewer the Madonna, ready to abandon himself to bewilderment, wonder and fear of the news she will receive.