On Friday 27 March 2026, from 9.30am, Sincronie contemporanee. Il dialogo tra passato e presente nei musei di oggi took place — the sixth edition of the AMACI Study Day, the annual event promoted by AMACI with the support of the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture, dedicated to examining the profound changes currently redefining the role and identity of museums today.
Curated by Marcella Beccaria, Chiara Gatti and Lorenzo Respi, the Study Day addressed one of the most significant themes in contemporary museological debate: moving beyond rigid chronologies and disciplinary boundaries in favour of a synchronic, layered and relational approach to engaging with collections and cultural heritage.
In recent decades, contemporary art museums and cultural institutions have undergone a profound transformation affecting their mission, their curatorial and exhibition practices, and their relationship with audiences. Within this context, there has been a growing openness to dialogue between different eras and languages — from archaeology to ancient, modern and contemporary art — generating new ways of interpreting and presenting works.
These “contemporary synchronies” redefine the traditional boundaries between institutions and disciplines: contemporary artists intervene in historical contexts, prompting critical rereadings of heritage, while works from the past are brought back into circulation through unexpected juxtapositions, thematic narratives and site-specific projects. Collections thus become active elements within complex narrative devices, capable of generating resonances, counterpoints and new keys to interpretation.
The Study Day Sincronie contemporanee. Il dialogo tra passato e presente nei musei di oggi set out to interrogate these transformations in their cultural and political implications as well, from postcolonial perspectives to the question of restitution, from issues of identity and gender to the role of digital tools as instruments of cultural mediation, scholarly enquiry and the sharing of knowledge. The museum is increasingly taking shape as a space for hermeneutic debate, the production of knowledge and critical participation.
The Study Day was opened by Marta Ragozzino, Head of Service II – Contemporary Art and Photography at the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture, and Lorenzo Balbi, President of AMACI, and unfolded across three in-depth sessions – Contemporary Art and Archaeological Heritage: Curatorial Practices and Postcolonial Perspectives; Dialogues Between Ancient and Modern: Origins and Developments of Current Museographic Trends; and Preserving Time: Anthropologies of Memory – featuring Matteo Al Kalak, Full Professor at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia; Francesca Cappelletti, Director of the Galleria Borghese; Christine Macel, Chief Curator (Conservatrice du patrimoine) at the French Ministry of Culture; Matteo Meschiari, Associate Professor at the University of Palermo; Elina Kountouri, Director of NEON | Organisation for Culture and Development D. Daskalopoulos; and Andrea Viliani, Curator and Coordinator of the DHGP – Digital Heritage Gateway Platform.
