From October 27, 2023 to January 7, 2024, the Library Hall will host a contemporary Athens School created by Eduardo Kobra one of the most appreciated street artists on the international scene. At the same time, Dimora Nobiliare opens its doors to applied art with works by 108, Moneyless, Etnik, Zed1, Aris, Gio Pistone, and Massimo Sospetto. The Festival della Strada, conceived by Gian Guido Grassi with the Start Attitude association and promoted by the Palazzo Blu Foundation and the Pisa Foundation, brings urban art to Palazzo Blu by gathering the exhibition on the Avant-Garde of the 20th century and the typical representations of Brazilian Eduardo Kobra already the author of Michelangelo’s David painted on top of the Carrara quarries. Kobra recreated a modern-day School of Athens by revisiting the faces of the avant-gardists on display at Palazzo Blu: Arp, Picasso, Braque, Chagalle, Dalì, Duchamp and others. Kobra was born in São Paulo in 1976, and he is a leading figure in mural art and the standard bearer of the Paulist neo-avant-garde: combinations of different techniques such as painting with brushes, airbrush and sprays make his works majestic and unconventional. His talent emerged among the city’s mazes in the late 1980s: since then Kobra has created murals on every continent, including the world’s largest (over 3.000 square meters in area), created for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. The vaguely nostalgic mood of his works, combined with his distinctive rainbow of colors, creates a visual short-circuit that draws the viewer into a romantic and entertaining narrative. Topic of his works are social issues (such as pollution, global warming, deforestation and war) but also portraits of famous people and scenes of times gone by to revive the memory of many past metropolises, creating an unbreakable link between the unchallenged present and historical memory. Such is the case with the site-specific installation designed for Palazzo Blu.
In parallel to the initiative present at Palazzo Blu, Festival della Strada brings Gonzalo Borondo to Chiesa della Spina with the Non Plus Ultra installation.
