Italy
participants
The main goal of the activity was to give to our international students a new point of view about the work of Keith Haring, by offering them a guided tour of his exhibition. Moreover, his art is a vehicle for many critics of the society, some of which are still actual 40 years later, so it was an interesting way to promote reflection about social issues.
Another relevant goal is to strengthen the relationship between ESN Pisa and the local institutions, to make them understand our complex reality and our mission and vision.
The activity consisted of a guided tour (in English) of the Keith Haring temporary exhibition at Palazzo Blu, in Pisa, followed by an aperitivo altogether to promote sociality among the international student and the volunteers. The event was open to both international students and local volunteers since it was a temporary exhibition, thus also people living in the city for a long time haven't had the opportunity to visit it before.
The symbol of the connection between Keith Haring and the city of Pisa is the big mural "Tuttomondo", but the artist's work is extremely wide and it has much more to offer. The exhibition presents for the first time in Europe a rich selection of works from the Nakamura Keith Haring Collection, a personal collection of Kazuo Nakamura. Widely recognized for his brightly coloured and jubilant artworks, Haring’s works are familiar and known even to those unfamiliar with his brief artistic parable in the 80s: his stylized and moving men, his hearts, his dogs and his signs are part of the baggage of public images, which made him a symbol of pop culture and art of the Eighties. However, the focus of Keith Haring's art is to express many critics of the society in which he was living, mostly about the discrimination against the LGBT+ community, racism, safe sex and STDs. All the participants had the chance to think about these social issues and how most of them are still actual.
We had an enriching dialogue with the responsible peole of Palazzo Blu, and we obtained the authorization to use the Museum logo in our communication campaign for the event.
