The key objective of Cogli l’attimo, carpe diem, seize the day¹, an initiative organised by AMACI – Associazione dei Musei d’Arte Contemporanea Italiani and scheduled for Wednesday 23 March, is to investigate in depth the main issues related to the ways in which performance and its related practices can be defined, documented, collected, preserved, enhanced, taught and transmitted, also thanks to the possibilities offered by digital technology. The event, organised with the support of the Directorate General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture, is an online study day dedicated to performance and its presence in Italian museum collections and archives. Curated by AMACI vice-president and chief curator of the collections of Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art Marcella Beccaria, the day will be divided in sessions structured as work tables that will see the active participation of directors and curators of the museums part of the AMACI network together with artists, curators, scholars and professionals, with particular reference to the Italian context. “Although the crucial significance of the performance is recognised within the history of contemporary art and many performance practices are now part of the programming of many museums, – said the organisers – its presence in collections and archives continues to pose challenges, also exacerbated by the pandemic emergency that has compromised the viability of live art practices”.
The participants
Paolo Naldini will take part in the session entitled The Performance as Artistic Practice. The Artist’s Body. What Remains?with artists Francesca Grilli and Marzia Migliora; the three speakers will be in dialogue with Bartolomeo Pietromarchi, director of MAXXI Arte – MAXXI National Museum of XXI Century Arts in Rome. The guests of the other debate sessions will be: Dora Aceto, Nico Angiuli, Francesco Arena, Chiara Bersani, Rossella Biscotti, Silvia Calderoni, Ilenia Caleo, Lara Conte, Raffaella Cortese,Duccio Dogheria, Eva Frapiccini, Francesca Gallo, Adelita Husni-Bey, Marcello Maloberti, Franco Noero, Andrea Pizzi, Virgilio Sieni, Andrea Viliani, Uliana Pierina Zanetti and Italo Zuffi. The speakers will be in conversation with directors and curators of the museums of the AMACI network, namely Lorenzo Balbi, director of MAMbo – Bologna’s Museum of Modern Art; Marcella Beccaria, vice-president of AMACI and chief curator of the collections of Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art; Denis Isaia, curator of the collections of Mart – Trento and Rovereto’s Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rovereto; Luca Lo Pinto, artistic director of MACRO – Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome; Bartolomeo Pietromarchi, director of MAXXI Arte – MAXXI National Museum of XXI Century Arts in Rome; Caterina Riva, artistic director of MACTE – Museum of Contemporary Art in Termoli; Emma Zanella, director of MA*GA – Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art ‘Silvio Zanella’ Foundation in Gallarate.
The start of the works
On Wednesday 23 March, Onofrio Cutaia, general director of Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture, Lorenzo Giusti, president of AMACI and director of GAMeC in Bergamo, and Marcella Beccaria, vice-president of AMACI and chief curator of the collections of Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art, will open the day’s work with the institutional greetings, followed by seven sessions focusing on specific themes that will offer the opportunity for direct dialogue between artists, institutions and operators in the cultural sector. The day will begin by giving the floor to the artists and their practices, starting with those involving bodies, asking them, first and foremost, what remains of these ephemeral works, how it is possible to transmit these practices and – considering the experience of many of them in teaching in academies and universities – how to teach this art form. One session will be dedicated to the increasingly strong contamination between dance, theatre and museum institutions, with some of the protagonists working across the various fields. One session will be centred on the ontological definition of performance in order to articulate and explore this concept, and then again space will be given to the artists. One session will look at artists’ studios and museum archives, and at specific issues related to the preservation and cataloguing of this art form. The exchanges will conclude by addressing market aspects, and discussing the peculiarities of this language with important galleries and a lawyer specialised in art law.
Comments
“The Directorate General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture,” said general director Onofrio Cutaia, “has encouraged and supported this opportunity for study and exchange on the forms and practices related to performance as an artistic expression, once again confirming its attention to performance practices and, through them, to the centrality of interdisciplinarity between the arts in the panorama of contemporary creativity”. His words were echoed by Lorenzo Giusti, president of AMACI: “More and more museums in the AMACI network – he said – are including in their collections performative works, or hybrid works, which combine physical, objectual parts and live interactions. How to preserve the character of these works over time, how to document them, how to re-present them in different contexts while keeping faith with the will of the various authors are all open questions that the conference, curated by Marcella Beccaria, intends to address, bringing together artists, cultural operators and Italian institutions, according to a cooperative logic aimed at enriching the awareness and skills of all those involved”.
Participation is free but subject to availability. Registration is required by Monday 21 March 2022 at this link. The participation link will be sent by Tuesday 22 March only to registered participants. For further information: info@amaci.org.
