Unconventional, rebellious, desecrating, provocative, irreverent, unabashed. These are the protagonists of "Heretics. Art and Life" – men and women of the 20th and 21st centuries who pursued freedom of thought, often clashing with mainstream sentiment. Brazenly stubborn and intolerant of rules, they often paid for their positions with criticism, exclusion, isolation or, in extreme cases, with their lives themselves.

The exhibition is divided into thematic areas and examines heretic activity in television, film, visual art, literature and music; it attempts to portray the voice of some lone revolutionaries in public spaces, culture and entertainment. Pier Paolo Pasolini, Mattia Moreni, Alda Merini, Carmelo Bene, Giovanni Testori, Nan Goldin, ORLAN and Anagoor are only a few of the artists, authors, intellectuals, writers, and musicians featured in the project. Selected by the curator together with a group of well-known scholars, these heretics are people who went against the tide and were hindered, marginalised and sometimes banished from the social system.

In its quest for linguistic limits, challenged mainly through images, Heretics is desecrating, sometimes scandalous; it does not censor pornography or the horrific, and it deconstructs religious references, established practices and comfortable attitudes. The result is a visceral and vital atmosphere, which, as the title states, is Art and Life.

For this exhibition the Mart received the invaluable research contribution of Fabio Canessa, Andrea B. Del Guercio, Stefano Di Trapani, Duccio Dogheria, Concetta Leto, Brizia Minerva, Daniela Rosi, Stefano Sbarbaro, Simona Zecchi.

Recommended for an adult audience.

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