The curatorial collective OTTN Projects is glad to announce "Florilegium", the first solo show in Italy by artist Rebecca Louise Law, opening in Parma on March 21st, 2020 during the Institutional event “Parma Capitale Cultura 2020”.

 

Law is a British Artist whose larger-than-life installations and site-specific sculptures capture the profound

power of nature. The artist’s body of work presented during Florilegium is thought of as an actual being designed to evolve within the hosting space, following the natural course of time. The aspects of physicality and sensuality

expressed by Law’s work investigate the idea of life and beauty in constant mutation. The artist is driven by

the acknowledgment of nature itself, particularly flowers which for the artist represent youth, happiness, and

freedom, an infinite life.

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The willingness of preserving life is deeply embodied in Law’s work, awakening questions on what it means

to preserve and to live. The title Florilegium comes from the Latin “to keep and to preserve flowers”.

The element of consistency and chorality is important: the single flower is picked to become a cluster.

 

Florilegium deals with increasingly urgent themes such as the strong yet delicate relationship between hu-

manity and the surrounding nature, keeping an objective of communicating with the spectators by embracing them in a call for sustainability.

At the core of the exhibition, a site-specific and immersive installation in Chiesa di San Tiburzio, in which the

various mutations for all the duration of the artistic event will be visible.

This itinerant exhibition path will continue in the Archivio Storico dell’ Antica Farmacia which will host two

site-specific sculptures, while the greenhouse of the Orto Botanico di Parma will guard a short film “Death of

Albine”.

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Florilegium comes from a strong desire to bring to Parma a contemporary art exhibition that can offer to the

public a unique and unforgettable experience.

In line with this desire, a Public Program was conceived as an integral part of the event, which will involve

a citizen call to action in March in the Parco Ducale di Parma. The companies promoting the project for the

duration of the event are Davines, Cosmoproject, Chiesi Farmaceutici, and ParmaColorViola. More details

about these appointments will be communicated on Friday, February 28th, 2020 during the press conference.

The exhibition is an action of Pharmacopea, an itinerant project born from the companies Chiesi and Davines

in collaboration with various realities in the Parma area, within the scope of the “Open Companies” initiative,

part of the Parma Italian Capital of Culture program 2020. Pharmacopea’s goal is to discover and enhance the chemical-pharmaceutical identity of the territory of Parma, with a journey between past and present, tou-

ching with initiatives, projects and events that will take place throughout the year at the custodian sites of this identity, such as the Botanical Garden and the Ancient Pharmacy San Filippo Neri.

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Rebecca Louise Law (1980, United Kingdom)

Grown up in a small village in the United Kingdom, she graduated at the School of Arts and Cultures of the

Newcastle University. Her most important commissions include: “The Grecian Garden” (Onassis Culture  Centre, Athens), “The Beauty of Decay” (Chandran Gallery, San Francisco), “Life in Death” (Shirley Sherwo-

od Gallery, London) and “Community” (The Toledo Museum of Art). The artist’s works have been shown at the Victoria & Albert Museum, The Royal Academy of

Arts, Broadway Studio & Gallery, Bo Lee Galley, NOW Gallery.

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Sponsored by PHARMACOPEA, a botanical project made possible thanks to the following companies:

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Davines

The brand Davines was founded in 1993, dedicated to the professional market of hairstyle, followed in 1996

by the cosmetic division Comfort Zone. Davines identifies in Sustainable Beauty the aspirational ideal on

which to build the success of the company. Initially translated in initiatives of environmental protection, such

concept has come to represent the guideline that underlies every business activity.

Transparency, beauty, respect, sustainability. These values become the key element not just to define the correct behaviour inside and outside the company, but also transform themselves in the intangible and fun-

damental ingredients of the product itself.

 

Cosmoproject

Founded in 1993 by the entrepreneur Primo Tortini, owner and sole shareholder, Cosmoproject is today a

reference point for the main brands in the cosmetic sector and private labels. The Research & Development

Laboratory is responsible for the conception and design of innovative formulas in the skincare, make-up and medical device areas, meanwhile every project has been tested and evaluated in terms of efficiency, fun-

ctionality and sensoriality of the new Applied Cosmetic Laboratory, and in terms of safety in the Microbiology Laboratory, all within the company.

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Il gruppo Chiesi

Headquartered in Parma, Italy, Chiesi Farmaceutici is an international group-oriented to research, with over

80 years of experience in the pharmaceutical field, present in 28 countries. The Group researches, develops

and markets innovative medicines for respiratory treatments, specialized medicine and rare diseases. Th Research and Development of the Group is based in Parma and has been integrated with other 6 important

research and development groups in France, United States, United Kingdom and Sweden, to promote their

preclinical, clinical and registration programs. The Group employs about 5700 people.

The Chiesi Group is B Corp certified.

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Partners:

ParmaColorViola

Parma Color Viola is a cultural association that with the project “Il posto delle Viole” promotes the tradition of the Violetta di Parma in all its botanical, olfactive, cultural and customs expressions. In the historical gre-

enhouse of the Giardino Ducale is coltivated the original double flower Violetta di Parma.