Through the Barricades

The exhibition presents more than twenty artworks of the most important talents emerged in these 16^th past editions of the Biennale, in the field of visual arts, from the collective IRWIN to Grazia Toderi, from Miltos Manetas to Vanessa Beecroft, from Tobias Putrih to Damir Očko and many others. BJCEM celebrates the first thirty years of Biennale of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean with an exhibition, from December 3^rd 2015 to January 10^th 2016 at Fabbrica del Vapore in Milan. The exhibition, curated by Andrea Bruciati, is promoted by BJCEM in collaboration and with the support of the Municipality of Milan and with the support of the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.
Through the Barricades takes its title from a famous song by Spandau Ballet, one of the most famous bands of the 80s. It is exactly in that decade that the BJCEM adventure started, with Tendencias, an exhibition held in Barcelona in 1984. “That decade – remember Andrea Bruciati – was characterized by unconsciousness, anarchic impulse and optimism, and it found in the opening of the boundaries through creativity one of its structural and original points of strength. An horizontal gaze, pointed to all the media, contributed to create a cross-platform, where utopically was affirmed the will to create a new society through its positive dynamics, which animated that generations for the demolition of any barrier”. Through the Barricades wants to highlight the unique spirit, characterized by research and experimentation, that has been promoted by the Biennale during the last 30
years, through some of the most bright talents that emerged from the participation to the 16^thpast editions.
Starting from Barcelona in 1985, with the collective IRWIN, to the participation of Grazia Toderi and Miltos Manetas in Thessaloniki in 1986, to Vanessa Beecroft, Eulalia Valldosera, Adel Abdessemed in Lisbon in 1994, to Vasco Araújo, Tobias Putrih in Rome in 1999. The new millennium is represented by the works of Erzen Shkololli, presented in Sarajevo in 2001, Mathieu K. Abonnenc, Ayreen Anastas, Giorgio Andreotta Calò, Haris Epaminonda from Naples 2005 and Damir Očko, Puglia 2008. Most recently, the editions of Thessaloniki in 2011 and Ancona 2013, will be represent with the works of Didem Erk and of Ayman Ramadan.
All of the artists involved were invited as testimonials of these long adventure lasted for decades, all of them are recognised as main protagonists of the changes in the creative panorama of the recent past, but also of the future.

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