Fondazione Prada presents “Maratone TV 70”, six evening events hosted at its Cinema in Milan every Friday and Saturday from 8 to 23 September, on the occasion of the exhibition “TV 70: Francesco Vezzoli guarda la Rai”. Open to the public until 24 September 2017, the show has been developed in collaboration with Rai, translating the artist’s gaze into a visual experience that explores 1970s TV production.
The marathons will present TV programs, from the archives of Teche Rai, that experimented new approaches to television storytelling – from documentaries to women-led variety shows, from genre TV series to avant-garde theatre – and are still as innovative and entertaining after 40 years since they were first aired.
On Friday 8 September, “Maratone TV 70” will be launched with “Artist Portraits on TV”, a selection of interviews and documentaries produced by Rai and devoted to Italian artists such as Vincenzo Agnetti, Alighiero Boetti, Alberto Burri, Eugenio Carmi, Giorgio De Chirico, Renato Guttuso, Mario Merz and Michelangelo Pistoletto. These TV excerpts, selected and presented by the exhibition’s associate curator Cristiana Perrella, were taken from emblematic shows such as Rete Uno alla Biennale di Venezia – Biennale Rosa (1975-’76) by Alfredo di Laura, Come nasce un’opera d’arte (1975) by Franco Simongini, Vidikon (Rubrica di arti figurative) (1979) by Anna Zanoli. In such programs, artists confronted the potential as well as the hidden threats of TV as a media, through which they were exposed to large audiences for the first time whilst transforming the creative process behind their works into a new narration for heterogeneous TV audiences.
On Saturday 9 September, Marco Senaldi, the consultant for the art section of “TV 70”, will introduce five full episodes from L’Orlando furioso (1975), a TV series directed by Luca Ronconi and inspired by the renowned book by Ludovico Ariosto. This Rai adaptation, from the revolutionary 1969 theatre play written by Ronconi and Edoardo Sanguineti, translates Ariosto’s imagery and ironic gaze into an original TV product capable of bringing together television language and the most radical theatre experimentations.
On Friday 15 September, Massimo Bernardini, the consultant for the politics section of the exhibition, will present Chung Kuo, Cina, a documentary realized by Michelangelo Antonioni and broadcasted by Rai in 1973. Antonioni depicts China through its factories, government buildings, as well as rural and urban areas from a domestic and intimate point of view. The film, which gained the director the allegation of being an enemy of the people from the Chinese press, tells us about a country detached from the Maoist mythology, divided between ancient traditions and a thrust to the future.
The marathon hosted on 16 September will comprise the six full episodes of Sandokan (1976), one of the most popular TV series produced by Rai in the 70’s, and will be introduced by Mario Mainetti, associate curator for “TV 70”. Directed by Sergio Sollima and interpreted by lead actor Kabir Bedi, the show was inspired by Emilio Salgari’s Malaysian tales. Regarded by critics as a naïf, misleading reading of Salgari’s imagery at the time, Sandokan’s widespread success allowed it to become a cult show for two generations and the first Italian TV series to be realized with the means of a proper cinematographic production.
On Friday 22 September and Saturday 23 September, “Maratone TV 70” will end with “Fenomenologia di Raffaella Carrà”, a screening schedule conceived by Francesco Vezzoli.
By presenting two complete seasons of shows such as Milleluci (1974) directed by Antonello Falqui and Ma che sera (1978) written by Gianni Boncompagni and Dino Verde and directed by Gino Landi, the artist will analyze the evolution of Raffaella Carrà, one of the most popular icons of Italian television during the 70’s. Milleluci is a black and white variety show featuring traditional TV presenting techniques but led by two female anchors, Raffaella Carrà and Mina, a revolutionary invention at the time. On the other hand, Ma che sera was a musical show presented in color, with a liberating and irreverent tone, through which Raffaella Carrà became an ironic, transgressive character, especially if framed within the Italian socio-political climate during the so-called Years of Lead.
On Friday 22 September Fondazione Prada’s Cinema will close at 2pm, whereas on Saturday 23 September it will close at 4pm.