Since 2005, the Giornata del Contemporaneo has earned particular attention from the wider public and from industry professionals for the important role it has played in promoting contemporary culture. The growth in the number of participants (from 207 in 2005 to 965 in 2015, passing through 1,050 in 2010) and in attendance (from 97,000 visitors in the early editions to around 230,000 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 twelve 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.
This year in particular, the number of organisations taking part in the event continues to grow: more than 1,000 museums, galleries, associations and public and private art venues have confirmed they will open free of charge.
As in previous editions, AMACI entrusted the creation of the Giornata del Contemporaneo’s guiding image to an internationally renowned Italian artist. 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) and Alfredo Pirri (2015), for this twelfth edition the directors of the 24 member museums called on Emilio Isgrò to create the guiding image.
Preghiera per l’Europa (Prayer for Europe), the image created specially by the artist for the Giornata del Contemporaneo, shows a Europe that has been erased, extending its borders beyond those of the European Union to ideally embrace the countries bordering the Mediterranean.
Created in March 2016, before the recent referendum that confirmed Britain’s choice to leave the EU, the image is intended as a reflection on the divisions — geographical, political, cultural — that today, more than ever, fuel nationalist sentiments and drives that history had hoped it had erased.
Emilio Isgrò explains that his Prayer for Europe is not meant to convey dismay or fear, but rather to offer the possibility of dialogue with those who, on both sides of the Mediterranean, ask the land of the three monotheisms to place its “human face” over the terrible mask of a world too burdened by wars and conflicts. He notes that no one can believe art alone can change the world, but that it falls to artists and to the humblest creatures to express the dark force capable of turning despair into hope, and that for this reason art must be free of ideological and commercial constraints, so as to regain the credibility it has lost in the eyes of those who truly need it. He concludes that it is only when everyone begins to pray together — artists and the humble, the religious, non-believers and the secular alike — that prayer finally becomes effective, and that the sky softens.
In testimony to the event’s ever-growing significance and its important role within the national system, the President of the Senate, Pietro Grasso, once again this year awarded the Giornata del Contemporaneo the bronze medal of the Senate of the Republic.
Furthermore, for the first time, AMACI announced a collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation – Directorate-General for the Promotion of the Country System, which, to mark the Twelfth Giornata del Contemporaneo, opened the Palazzo della Farnesina to the public on an exceptional basis, offering guided tours by booking of the most representative rooms on the first, second and fourth floors, where some of the most significant works from the Collezione Farnesina — the Ministry’s contemporary art collection — are on display.
At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs encouraged and coordinated participation in the Giornata del Contemporaneo among those Italian Cultural Institutes abroad which, by taking part, in turn organised, within their own areas of responsibility, specific activities promoting contemporary Italian art and culture.
Event promoted by
AMACI – Association of Italian Contemporary Art Museums
With the support of
Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism – Directorate-General for Contemporary Art and Architecture and Urban Suburbs
Bronze Medal of the Senate of the Republic
Under the patronage of
Representation in Italy of the European Commission
Chamber of Deputies
Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism
Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces
UPI – Union of Italian Provinces
ANCI – National Association of Italian Municipalities
ICOM Italia
Supporting Partner
Arena Broker
