Great turnout and appreciation for the exhibition with 100 works by the great painter
Conversano – For almost two months in Conversano there has been a buzz and a dynamism that intrigues those who spend their mornings or afternoons sitting on the benches in front of the Castle or in the bars of Largo della Corte: an unusual coming and going of people, visitors from neighboring municipalities, groups of children and teenagers with their teachers, groups and couples and families of tourists, groups of users of day centers for the elderly and disabled, students of art institutes, who converge towards the entrance arch to the Castle, the one through which you reach the second floor of the exhibition space of the museum complex.
There is Chagall and many come out of curiosity but also for the privilege of being there for a unique exhibition with approximately 100 works among paintings, lithographs, drawings and engravings of a master of twentieth-century pictorial art, citizen of the world, in love with the beauty of a flower, captured by the strength of love and the imaginative power of dreams.
You will not find the famous Passeggiata, which remained on the walls of the MOMA in New York, but much else has moved from private collections from all over the world to attract to Conversano, offering to thousands of Conversano and Apulian citizens, even before the many tourists who are flocking to Puglia also for the upcoming summer, the unique opportunity to admire absolute works. This is the democratization of culturewhich becomes accessible to an increasingly larger number of people and also in very different economic and social conditions.
The society ARTHEMISIAwhich has the artistic planning and responsibility for the very successful installation, proposed this exhibition to the Municipality because it is an undertaking that recognizes the potential of a container of such great beauty and versatility as the Conversano Castle, but also of the city itself , which is an important crossroads for access and proximity to great cultural and landscape attractions present in the south-east of Bari and in the Itria Valley, and knows it can make important numbers to repay such effort, also ensuring large profit margins .
The Municipality of Conversano, which deservedly welcomed the exhibition by establishing the conditions of use of the spaces and the brand of Conversano Città d’Arte, has certainly considered the value of this proposal in terms of territorial marketing and tourist promotion of the area, for the related activities that can be generated in the sectors of hotel and non-hotel accommodation, catering, tourism services, etc.
But what will really remain for the community of Conversano – even more than the economic value generated by the thousands of presences that will be registered from week to week until October – will be this sense of heritage communitythat awareness of the privilege of all being custodians for about six months of a heritage of inestimable value and of the pride of being able to welcome so many interested people to the city.
And it will be said that an entrance ticket of 15 euros (13 for residents) is not affordable for everyone and this may perhaps seem in contrast with the accessibility of the heritage and beauty mentioned above, but, apart from the different forms of reductions and benefits already foreseen, we need each and every one of us to reflect on the cost of such a cultural proposal and on how many of us, on the other hand, could afford to chase so many works by Marc Chagall around the world once in our lives .
A heritage community is also the one that in its different articulations and subjectivities participates in this celebration of culture, making the entire context in which the exhibition takes place more friendly and welcoming: it is not trivial to involve students from secondary schools and institutes of art in the production of their own works inspired by the work of Chagallnor is it usual to go around the Castle and observe on a lawn so many giant and colorful flowers thrown there to remember the value of beauty, as if it had escaped some of the paintings of Chagall. The latter is an installation by a very talented local artist, ours Anita Corletowho placed his laboratory, located in one of the “Vie d’arts” of the historic center of Conversano, at the service of the mission of hospitality and valorisation.
And then it would be very nice if the heritage community, which is Conversano in recent months, does not have to clash with the harsh reality of those who cannot even park their car anywhere else other than the few square meters in front of the entrance stairs to the Castle, or can take note of a system of catering operators who are more willing to observe opening hours during the week and on weekends such as to make tourists and visitors stop in our city before or after visiting the exhibition, even for lunch, which is anything but a given today , or could still count on other cultural operators capable of elevating the proposals for cultural initiatives, avoiding proposals that are cheap or completely out of tune with the quality offered with the exhibition Chagall.
It almost seems that a part of our city does not appreciate or does not want to face the challenge of welcoming such a particular and demanding target as that of cultural tourism: perhaps, however, it would be better to start trying, because the neighboring municipalities already constitute a powerful competition, and for an average city (not a village!) which cannot count on the sea but rather on a great cultural and historical-architectural heritage, such opportunities must absolutely be capitalized by public institutions, cultural organizations and economic operators .
And now don’t miss the exhibition!
From left: Anita Corleto and Marcella Marangelli, curators of the workshop with the very young people
