PERSPECTIVES OF THE FUTURE. Merano 1945 - 1965

Life in the postwar years was many-facetted and exciting. Despite the politically charged situations, people hovered between normalization, awakening, and high-flown large-scale tourist projects. Ezra Pound, Oswald Kofler, Gina Klaber-Thusek, Hans Ebensperger, Mary de Rachewiltz, Ernst Nepo, Gino Severini, Peggy Guggenheim, Anton Frühauf, Salvatore Quasimodo, Luigi Serravalli, Antonio Manfredi, Karl Plattner and many others were the protagonists who gave the town a boost to international recognition.
Innumerable exhibitions, music, movie, theatre, and literature events led to a pulsating cultural life and attracted visitors from all over the world. Starting with a series of artist portraits, the Merano arte entrance and hall will lead us through the fifties in Merano: Who were the protagonists? What did they think about the local understanding of culture in the postwar years? How did they deal with their presence, and what were their visions for the future? Who signed the Merano Manifesto, and what were its demands? Which artists held exhibitions at the Wunderbar and the spa administration? The second section of the exhibition is devoted to the local artists of those years. Their works as well as the exhibits of international guests illuminate their understanding of art in the interplay of representational and non-representational painting or sculpture, photography, collages, assemblages, arts and crafts, as well as jewelry design. The final section of the exhibition is about lifelong friendships between artists, for instance between Anton Frühauf and Oswald Kofler as well as Hansgeorg Hölzl.
The cinematic portrait by Traudi Messini is a search for traces of works and artists in Merano. Moreover, Messini talks to a number of protagonists such as Umberto Volante, Oskar Müller, Mary de Rachewiltz, Willy Gutweniger, and Hansgeorg Hölzl. (The video will be shown on the second floor as of November 1; duration: approx. 30 min.)

The catalogue

The catalogue does not only feature the more than 300 works exhibited, but also 32 contributions by renowned authors as well as 200 further illustrations on the individual topics:

Hans Heiss:
MÜHSAME NORMALISIERUNG IN SÜDTIROL
Tiziano Rosani:
ANDERE PERSPEKTIVEN – DIE MERANER STADTVERWALTUNG
Paul Rösch:
DER ZWEITE FRÜHLING EINER ALTEN DAME – FRAGMENTE DER TOURISMUSENTWICKLUNG
Massimo Moser:
ZWISCHEN UNSICHERHEIT UND ENTWICKLUNG – DIE WIRTSCHAFT IN MERAN UND UMGEBUNG
Magdalene Schmidt:
ARCHITEKTUR UND BAUGESCHEHEN IN MERAN
Markus Neuwirth:
FRUCHTBARE KONFLIKTE
Giorgia Lazzaretto:
EMILIO DALL’OGLIO
Nora Ranalter:
HANS EBENSPERGER – SPIEGELBILDER SEINER SEELE
Maria Grünbacher:
PETER FELLIN – ENFANT TERRIBLE DER SÜDTIROLER KUNSTSZENE
Markus Neuwirth:
ANTON FRÜHAUF – EINHEIT IN DER VIELFALT
Barbara Unterthurner:
OSWALD KOFLER – DAS AUGE DER MERANER
Rosanna Pruccoli:
ANTONIO MANFREDI – DICHTER, MALER, KRITIKER
Irene Stauder:
OSKAR MÜLLER – KERAMIKER UND DESIGNER
Markus Neuwirth:
JOSEPH BRUNNER – MATERIALKULT UND FORMGEWINN
Markus Neuwirth:
HANSGEORG HÖLZL – SPANNUNG UND KONTRAST
Karin Dalla Torre:
GINA KLABER-THUSEK
Rosanna Pruccoli:
UMBERTO VOLANTE – ZWISCHEN KUNST UND ANGEWANDTER KUNST
Rosanna Pruccoli & Tiziano Rosani:
DIE KUNSTAUSSTELLUNGEN UND DIE ROLLE DER KURVERWALTUNG 1957/58
Ursula Schnitzer:
KÜNSTLER, SAMMLER UND MÄZENE 
Rosanna Pruccoli:
LUIGI SERRAVALLI – EIN BUCH UND EIN FILM AM TAG
Rosanna Pruccoli:
BRUNNENBURG – LITERATURSALON UND IDEENSCHMIEDE
Ferruccio Delle Cave:
ZWISCHEN TRISTESSE UND AUFBRUCH – DIE LITERARISCHE REZEPTION EINER STADT
Carlo Romeo:
ERWARTUNGEN UND SCHWERMUT IN EINER JANUSKÖPFIGEN STADT
Siegfried de Rachewiltz:
EZRA POUND– DIE MERANER JAHRE
Leo Hillebrand:
URANIA MERAN – KEIMZELLE DER WEITERBILDUNG
Georg Mühlberger:
SÜDTIROLER KULTURINSTITUT UND DEUTSCHES THEATER
Roberto Cotteri:
DIE AKADEMIE DEUTSCH-ITALIENISCHER STUDIEN
Ewald Kontschieder:
MUSIKLEBEN – MEHRSPURIG MERANER NACHKRIEGSMUSIKSZENE
Paolo Caneppele & Raoul Schmidt:
DIE ZEIT DES MERANER AMATEUR- FILMFESTIVALS
Heinrich Schwazer:
ZWISCHEN TRADITION, MODERNITÄT UND POLITIK
Paolo Bill Valente:
DIE KIRCHE IM WANDEL DER ZEIT
Leo Andergassen:
DIE KIRCHE ALS AUFTRAGGEBER

Editor: Merano arte, Markus Neuwirth, Tiziano Rosani
400 pages, hard cover with dust jacket
Tappeiner Verlag 2012, ISBN 978-88-7073-709-7
Selling price: 49.90 €