We went to a very interesting exhibit opening the other night at the Palazzo Medici Riccardi of the Beijing artist Yang Maoyuan. This exhibit is not yet listed on the Palazzo website, but the show dates are September 12th to October 11th, 2009. If you are in Florence and want to see something new but related to the renaissance at the same time, make sure to check out this exhibit if you visit. The exhibit is in the temporary space on the ground floor, off of the courtyard (not sure if it is open to the public for free, or if you have to pay the entrance to the museum to see it).
The artist works in bronze and marble, first making near complete sculptures based on eastern, classical, and renaissance sculptures, and then uses a reductive process to take away or "look inside" (as the title of the exhibit suggests) the original work. It was a very compelling, captivating, show. The sculptures have a strange mechanical/alien feel, while at the same time are clearly grounded in work that is hundreds of years old.