Untied from that celebratory function that has guided its forms for decades, permanent sculpture in public space persists in cities as an aesthetic and functional device, raising new questions about its appropriateness. Experimenting with new, anti-monumental and relational forms, in which the process often goes beyond the object, public sculpture reflects the radical rethinking of the relationship between art and territory in recent years, imposing new methods of design and use. Reception, inclusion, gender policies, ecological issues, transmedia are issues of collective interest that directly call into question artistic production, especially that intended for urban space. This will be discussed on May 25th, starting from 10am, at the Castromediano Museum in Lecce, on the occasion of the Study Day Through Territory and Sculptureconceived and edited by Maria Giovanna Manciniprofessor of History of Contemporary Art at the University of Bari.
«Cities – explains Mancini – appear to be the places most permeable to extractivist policies, transformed by mass tourism and by purposes aimed at urban branding. Art, which is inserted into the social fabric and questions communities with a radical difference, constitutes itself, instead, as a real alternative and a concrete possibility for rethinking spaces that are increasingly privatised. Even when it adopts the form of a monument, art and the discourses of artists can create communities and construct breaks, pauses, different temporalities compared to increasingly exclusionary urban discourses and policies and, instead, offer new questions for living and thinking about one’s own city. and the territory with awareness. In the morning the reflection will address experiences and projects linked to monumental form, in the afternoon the interventions will all focus on practices that critically reject the monument form to adopt the eccentric perspective of performative and radical practices”.
MuseMany institutional representatives and sector operators were invited to speak. «What interests us most about this appointment – he clarifies Luigi De Luca, director of the Biblio-museum Center of Lecce – is to understand whether museums can play a mediating role between artistic practices and the urban context. On the one hand this has to do with the role of museums in contemporary society and on the other with the need to understand if and how art and in particular sculpture can contribute to rebuilding a relationship of meaning and belonging with community in a world afflicted by a progressive loss of meaning. A research in which the Castromediano feels deeply committed.”
After the institutional interventions of Francesca RiccioSuperintendent of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the Provinces of Lecce and Brindisi, of Paul Pontiusdirector of the Department of Humanistic Research and Innovation of the University of Bari, by Aldo Patrunodirector of the Department of Tourism, Economy of Culture and Territorial Enhancement of the Puglia Region, and of Nicholas Ciracì, president of the Academy of Fine Arts of Lecce, we will proceed with the reports. Many qualified speakers were invited to discuss good practices and future prospects: Francesco Ceraolo of the University of Salento; Roberto Pintoscientific curator of the ArtLine project; Paul Applesartistic director of Kora – Contemporary Arts center in Castrignano de’ Greci; Stefania Zulianidirector of the Menna Foundation; Annalisa Sacks of the IUAV of Venice; Emmanuel Rinaldo Petty of the University of Bologna.
Also among the speakers Fabio De Chirico, director of Service II Contemporary Art and Photography – General Directorate of Contemporary Creativity, who specifies: «The creation of works or art interventions in public spaces represents a consolidated practice. Art within the reach of all citizens becomes a participatory process and involves the communities of reference. It also represents an unmissable opportunity to bring the public closer to art but it is also a training opportunity. For some years, the Directorate General for Contemporary Creativity has played an essential role as a reference institution for aspects related to the design and commissioning of works for sharing spaces. Puglia is certainly one of the most interesting regions for experimenting with new cultural paths and can be a significant laboratory and constitute a pilot model in this sense. In the projects already started, the MiC works alongside local administrations and becomes a reference interlocutor, also for the creation of networks and for the activation of virtuous processes. Contemporary art is today a significant and indispensable attraction.”
The event is sponsored by the Universities of Bari and Salento, the Biblio-museum Center of Lecce and the Teatro Pubblico Pugliese.
