La Grande Illusione – Rome, Italy

Susan Harbage Page Piccolo Monument to Misconceptions/ Piccolo Monumento ai Fraintendimenti, 2013 libro trovato (Roman Spring di Sandra Marton), cordoncino nero, etichetta per tessuti creata dall’artista

Minou Amirsoleimani, Valentina Angeli, Marco Baldicchi, Alessandra Baldoni, Enzo Barchi,
Heidi Bedenknecht-De Felice, Claudio Bianchi, Benedetta Bonichi, Claudio Bonichi, Paolo
Buggiani, Maila Buglioni, Viviana Buttarelli, Alejandro Caiazza, Pamela Campagna, Claudio
Cantelmi, Carlo Cecchi, Bruno Ceccobelli, Consuelo Celluzzi, Franco Cenci, Claudia Chianese,
Rupa Chordia, Fabrizio Cicero, Laura Cionci, Letizia Colella e Renata Del Medico, Dario Coletti,
Vera Comploj, Teresa Coratella e Nora Lux, Claudio Corrivetti, Angelo Cricchi, Chiara Dellerba,
Tommaso De Dona, Benjamin Demeyere, Simon d’Exéa, Claudio Di Carlo, Mauro Di Silvestre,
Gianni Dorigo, Elena El Asmar, Stefano Esposito, Laura Facchini, Gaetano Fanelli, Angela Ferrara,
Candida Ferrari, Inès Fontenla, Giovanni Gaggia, Pietro Gagliano’, Antonella Gandini, Eugenio
Giliberti, Gianni Godi, Guido Guidi, Archana Hande, Susan Harbage Page, Satoshi Hirose, Iginio
Iurilli, Mojmir U. Ježek, Mikhail Koulakov, Luca Lavatori, Giusy Lauriola, Lemeh42, Emilio
Leofreddi, Loredana Longo, Lorenzo Lupano, mad|is|dead, Sergio Marcelli, Melissa Marchetti,
Graziano Marini, Leonardo Martellucci, Sergio Meloni, Maria Carmela Milano, Patrizia Molinari,
Silvia Morera, Carla Mura, Elly Nagaoka, Massimo Nardi, Melina Nicolaides, Giacinto
Occhionero, Franco Ottavianelli, Luigi Pagano, Mirko Pagliacci, Daria Paladino, Angela Palmarelli,
Daniela Papadia, Valentina Parisi, Stefano Parrini, Daniela Perego, Luana Perilli, Emanuela Petrini,
Grezzo Piacentimi, Antonio Picardi, Francesca Romana Pinzari, Franco Profili, Pupillo, Claudia
Quintieri, Quraish (Mohammed Quraiseh), Carlo Rocchi Bilancini, Mimmo Rubino, Massimo
Saverio Ruiu, Virginia Ryan, Jack Sal, Lorella Salvagni, Jackie Samosa, Francesco Sannicandro,
Suzanne Santoro, Paco Simon, Jolanda Spagno, Rita Soccio, Giuliana Storino, Lino Strangis, Silvia
Stucky, Pio Tarantini, Claudia Tröbinger, Franco Troiani, Roberta Ubaldi, Gloria Valente, Delphine
Valli, Xavier Vantaggi, Fernanda Veron, Irene Veschi, Stefano Veschini, Alessandro Vignali,
Maria Angeles Vila, Rita Vitali Rosati, Michele Welke, Fiorenzo Zaffina, Luca Zampetti.
The exhibition La grande illusione / The Great Illusion alludes ironically to the content of the
original 124 of 128 romance novels, the starting point for which many international artists were
invited to reflect on the theme of love.

Each artist was given a book which was interpreted in the total creative freedom. All books, found
by the curator in April 2013, in Rome, next to a dumpster, are romance novels in pocket format,
written in English and published in the United States between 1984 and 2012.

The idea of romantic love, which underlies these novels (exclusively heterosexual), passionate,
outrageous, adrenaline fueled illusions that feed the imagination and dreams of avid readers; it’s an
escape that becomes a comforting formula through its literary invention. The actual dynamics
within loving relationships and the implications of the context are only partially (and temporarily)
due to the stereotypes offered by this kind of literature.

One hundred twenty four personal interpretations of the artists that offer additional stimulus for
reflection. A chorus that also expresses a key of access that can be selfless love: solidarity.
The works produced and generously provided by these 124 artists have as their objective the fund
raising in support of the project CAKE for Bait al Karama Women’s Centre, the first Palestinian
cooking school and a Slow Food convivium in Nablus (Palestine). The link between the two
projects, apart from being “found objects” – destined to oblivion, cancellation – which returns a new
possibility.

Also the book Cake, The Culture of dessert between the Arab and Western traditions (Postcart
Editions, 2013), curated by Manuela De Leonardis and with the participation of artists Hassan Al-
Meer, Paolo Angelosanto, Yto Barrada, Beatrice Catanzaro, Maimuna Feroze-Nana, Parastou
Forouhar, Maimouna Patrizia Guerresi, Susan Harbage Page, Reiko Hiramatsu, Uttam Kumar
Karmaker, Silvia Levenson, Loredana Longo, MAD_Angela Ferrara and Dino Lorusso, Sükran
Moral, Ketna Patel, Pushpamala N, Anton Roca, Jack Sal, Larissa Sansour and the technical support
of Marimo – Brandlife designers and M.Th.I. Music Theatre International was born out of a
notebook, a book of recipes by an anonymous woman (purchased at a “charity shop” in London),
who wrote in Arabic and French recipes for sweets that bear the names of women, friends and
relatives.

Info:
La grande illusione / The great illusion
curated by Manuela De Leonardis
Promoter: Associazione Culturale L’Arte della memoria
Gallery of Art, Temple University Rome| Lungotevere Arnaldo Da Brescia, 15| 00196 Rome
Opening hours to the public: Mon-fri. 10-19
opening Tuesday, February 18, 2014 at 18.00
Catalogue with texts by Shara Wasserman, Manuela De Leonardis and texts by the Artists
http://www.contemporaryrome.com
http://www.artedellamemoria.wordpress.com
artedellamemoria@libero.it
Technical partners:
Studioidea Ltd, Monterotondo (Rome)
Temple University Rome Campus
With the patronage of