As in previous years, AMACI entrusted an artist with creating the event’s guiding image. Following Michelangelo Pistoletto (2006), Maurizio Cattelan (2007), Paola Pivi (2008), Luigi Ontani (2009), Stefano Arienti (2010), Giulio Paolini (2011), Francesco Vezzoli (2012), Marzia Migliora (2013), Adrian Paci (2014), Alfredo Pirri (2015), Emilio Isgrò (2016) and Liliana Moro (2017), this year the choice of the member museum directors fell on Marcello Maloberti, who created for the occasion Medusa: a bare-chested African boy, his face concealed by a motorcycle helmet covered in shells, stares straight into our eyes through the visor’s slit. The helmet’s rounded form is replaced by a jagged shape, and its protective function is, at first glance, undermined by the fragility of the cluster of molluscs. The hardness of the gaze and the stillness of the pose contrast with the overall sense of lightness in the image, which the artist created by playing with the stylistic devices of classical iconography: the young man appears as a mythological figure, a deity re-emerged from the ocean depths, where he lived or where he was perhaps shipwrecked during a sea crossing. His direct, proud gaze questions us, establishing a silent dialogue with the viewer, made up of the unsaid and the implied: it is a gaze that demands answers and that, ambiguously, like a contemporary Medusa, could turn us to stone, provoking in us both fascination and repulsion, empathy and detachment.
In addition to creating the image specially for the event, Marcello Maloberti was also, for the first time, the subject of a solo exhibition spread across the whole of Italy. On this occasion, the AMACI museums opened their spaces free of charge and simultaneously hosted, for one day, a selection of Maloberti’s works, giving the wider public the chance to discover the artist’s performative output and offering an opportunity for deeper engagement that made the member museums’ participation in the event more cohesive and consistent.
Another significant innovation in the 2018 edition is the Giornata del Contemporaneo – Italian Contemporary Art, which saw the participation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and in particular the network of Italian Cultural Institutes, with the aim of promoting Italian creativity beyond national borders too — creativity that is the fruit of the work not only of artists but also of experts, curators, gallerists, collectors, critics, art publishers, museum directors and registrars. From 8 to 13 October, around 100 professionals took part in the initiative, becoming, through their accounts and experiences, witnesses to the artistic quality of our country. Thanks to the coordination put in place by MAECI’s Directorate-General for the Promotion of the Country System, the MiBAC’s Directorate-General for Contemporary Art and Architecture and Urban Suburbs, and AMACI, Embassies, Consulates and Italian Cultural Institutes abroad organised, within their respective areas of responsibility, more than 80 events of Italian contemporary art for the fourteenth edition of the Giornata del Contemporaneo — including exhibitions, performances, installations, talks, debates and presentations — in 80 locations around the world.
An ever richer and more varied programme, then, for a broad and curious public that has followed the event with attention and enthusiasm for fourteen years. Since 2005, the Giornata del Contemporaneo has indeed played a leading role in promoting contemporary culture. The growth in the number of participants (from 207 in 2005 to 937, with 1,100 events, in 2017) and in attendance (from 97,000 visitors in the early editions to around 200,000 in recent ones) at the Giornate del Contemporaneo in recent years has clearly shown the ever-growing attention that contemporary art organisations pay to AMACI and its initiatives. Over fourteen years, the Giornata del Contemporaneo has helped to build a map of today’s art that has involved not only the major cities but also smaller centres, which have always been very active, where museums have taken on the role of cultural hubs with the mission of presenting and promoting the work of contemporary artists, highlighting the important role that the contemporary plays in the cultural, social and economic development of our country.
In testimony to the event’s ever-growing significance and its important role within the national system, the Head of State, Sergio Mattarella, once again this year awarded the Giornata del Contemporaneo the Medal of the President of the Republic.
Event promoted by
AMACI – Association of Italian Contemporary Art Museums
With the support of
Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities – Directorate-General for Contemporary Art and Architecture and Urban Suburbs
Lombardy Region
Medal of the President of the Republic
Under the patronage of
Representation in Italy of the European Commission
Presidency of the Council of Ministers
Senate of the Republic
Chamber of Deputies
Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation
Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces
UPI – Union of Italian Provinces
ANCI – National Association of Italian Municipalities
ICOM Italia
Supporting Partner
Alfasigma
