IO SIAMO/santachiara
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sicily
Location:
Palermo, Italy
Project Description:
RISO, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea della Sicilia
presents
“IO SIAMO/santachiara”
the first exhibition of “la Falegnameria” project
open to the public: from 18 December 2011 to 19 February 2012
Italy, Palermo, Centro Salesiano Santa Chiara
“IO SIAMO/santachiara,” a group exhibition curated by Giusi Diana, opens to the public on Sunday December 18 in the spaces of the Centro Salesiano Santa Chiara of Palermo, a regional reference for migrant reception services that operates in Palermo’s multiethnic Albergheria neighborhood, on the occasion of the International Migrants Day.
The seven artists (which include four collective groups) – /barbaragurrieri/group, Fare Ala, Luca Lo Coco, Nostra Signora, Linda Randazzo, Stefania Romano, Ugo in the Kitchen—were asked to relate to the reality of the Center and to the ample spaces of its inner courtyard and former carpenter’s shop, which were an important professional training ground for an entire generation of Palermitan artisans following WWII. The twenty works on display, which include some large installations, cross a plurality of artistic languages including painting, photography, drawing, object installation, public art, and relational art.
“IO SIAMO/santachiara” will be open to public through 19 February 2012. It is the first event of “la Falegnameria,” a more extensive project of cultural and civic participation conceived by Riso, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea della Sicilia and realized in conjunction with the Centro Salesiano Santa Chiara of Palermo in collaboration with the cultural association CLAC – Centro Laboratorio Arti Contemporanee.
The project aims at launching a continuing collaboration with the museum to build common pathways for art, ethical economy, and participation.
“The exhibition seeks to reflect on the dynamics for the possible social, political, economic, and cultural integration of the ever increasing number of people in Italy from other countries,” explains Giusi Diana. “Special attention will be placed on second generation immigrants, or the children, who were born and raised in Italy but are not granted the legal status of Italian citizenship. A sense of extraneousness in the face of an adverse or tumultuously changing environment is an increasingly widespread feeling among other weaker social groups as well, be they formed by new Italians or by young Italians looking for employment, or by the elderly who find it difficult to identify with our rapidly changing world. Loss of identity or visa versa the search for it in a new context are the considerations behind this first exhibition for the Centro Salesiano Santa Chiara, fruit of the interaction between the artists and the Centro’s operators and users and the ways in which they interrelated with the different activities and migrant services taking place there, by using exhibtion space experimentally and as a workshop.”
Through “la Falegnameria” project Riso intends to keep opening to city of Palermo and its community, reinforcing its bond with the neighborhood in which it is located and creating the conditions for and increasingly wider and shared participation in its activities.
The idea of creating a productive as well as social exchange between a space for showing art and a space for social participation led to choosing a “location” outside of Palazzo Riso. It suggests a way of experimenting with new models of intervention that can go beyond the disciplinary boundaries of art, design, and social enterprise, tackling the issue of economic sustainability head on. This initiative might lead to developing job and entrepreneurial opportunities through the conversion of the former carpenter’s shop into spaces for a sartorial workshop, a culinary laboratory, and a studio for the production of objects of design, working with the migrants and the Palermitans that live in the neighborhood, not to mention site-specific interventions capable of renewing the space.
“la Falegnameria” will continue to grow as a place for the making of the contemporary culture of every nationality and origin, a place for meeting and for exchange between “citizens.”
Exhibition details
Exhibition title: “IO SIAMO/santachiara”
Artists: /barbaragurrieri/group; Fare Ala; Luca Lo Coco; Nostra Signora; Linda Randazzo; Stefania Romano; Ugo in the Kitchen
Curator: Giusi Diana
Venue: “la Falegnameria,” at the Centro Salesiano Santa Chiara, piazza Santa Chiara 11, Palermo, Italy
Open to the public: 18 December 2011–19 February 2012
Openings hours: Thursday–Saturday 18.00–21.00, Sundays 10.00–13.00 / 18.00–21.00
Ticketing: free admission
Project title: “la Falegnameria”
Ideation: Riso, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea della Sicilia in collaboration with CLAC–Centro Laboratorio Arti Contemporanee.
www.palazzoriso.it; www.clac-lab.org; www.santachiara.org
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