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), Liliana Moro (2017) and Marcello Maloberti (2018), this year the choice of the member museum directors fell on Eva Marisaldi (Bologna, 1966), who reworked a frame taken from her 2002 video Legenda: a stop-motion animation in which stones imitate human behaviour as depicted in cinema, in parliament, and at home watching television.
In addition to creating the image specially for the event, Eva Marisaldi was also 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 the Bolognese artist’s works, giving the wider public the chance to discover her performative output and offering an opportunity for deeper engagement that made the member museums’ participation in the event more cohesive and consistent. This year, the Farnesina — which has taken part in the Giornata del Contemporaneo since 2016 by opening its doors to the public — was for the first time also one of the venues hosting the widespread exhibition dedicated to Eva Marisaldi, alongside the AMACI member museums.
Enriching the event’s programme, the Giornata del Contemporaneo – Italian Contemporary Art returned for a second year: following the success of the 2018 pilot edition, MAECI’s overseas network once again took part, in particular the Italian Cultural Institutes abroad, as participating venues promoting Italian creativity beyond national borders. Thanks to the collaboration established in recent years with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and to the coordination put in place since the previous year by MAECI’s Directorate-General for the Promotion of the Country System and the MiBACT’s Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity and Urban Regeneration, in the week before the AMACI event — from 7 to 13 October — Embassies, Consulates and Italian Cultural Institutes abroad also organised, within their areas of responsibility, debates, conferences, exhibitions and activities promoting contemporary Italian art and culture.
Many of the events scheduled within MAECI’s overseas network featured AMACI museum directors and curators — such as Marcella Beccaria at the IIC in Chicago, Luigi Fassi at the IIC in São Paulo (Brazil), Lorenzo Giusti at the IIC in Bogotá (Colombia), Hou Hanru at the IIC in Ljubljana (Slovenia), and Riccardo Passoni at the Italian Embassy in Kazakhstan — or involved Italian institutions, artists and curators, such as MACRO Asilo at the IIC in Osaka (Japan), Marinella Senatore at the IIC in Tel Aviv (Israel), Fabio Cavallucci at the IIC in Seoul (South Korea), and the IIC in Amsterdam (Netherlands) and the Consulate in Geneva (Switzerland), which presented projects linked to the Italian Council — an example of the virtuous collaboration established between the Directorates-General of MiBACT and MAECI and AMACI, all committed to bringing abroad a testament to the breadth and vitality of Italy’s contemporary art system.
Furthermore, for the first time, organisations from outside Italy’s borders and outside the MAECI network also took part in the Giornata del Contemporaneo, such as the Galleria Nazionale San Marino, IZOLYATSIA. Platform for Cultural Initiatives in Kyiv, Ukraine, Contemporary Art Studio in Hawaii, and the gallery dispari&dispari in Berlin.
An ever richer and more varied programme, then, for a broad and curious public that has followed the event with attention and enthusiasm for fifteen years. Since 2005, the Giornata del Contemporaneo has indeed played a leading role in promoting contemporary culture. The consistently very high turnout at the Giornate del Contemporaneo in recent years has clearly shown the growing attention that contemporary art organisations pay, year after year, to AMACI and its initiatives. Over fifteen 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.
Event promoted by
AMACI – Association of Italian Contemporary Art Museums
With the support of
Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the MiBACT
In collaboration with
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation
Under the patronage of
Representation in Italy of the European Commission
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
