MINISTRY OF CULTURE

The Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture, as part of the activities of the Department for Cultural Activities, is strengthening its presence at Artissima with a varied programme that broadens the scope of the DGCC’s activities within the fair.

Over the three days of the DGCC’s participation, two spaces, meetings with industry professionals, talks, performances and initiatives to promote Italian art and support its internationalisation will take place. One stand, dedicated to the Directorate’s activities, will be transformed into an agora where professionals from the contemporary art world – including artists, curators, gallerists, museum directors and other industry professionals – will exchange ideas in video podcasts produced by the Ministry of Culture. A second space will showcase MIRA – Mediterranean Institute for Research and Arts, a new cultural hub in Messina promoted by the Ministry of Culture through the Mission Unit for Cultural Cooperation with Africa and the Wider Mediterranean and the DGCC, together with the Municipality and the University of Messina, with the support of the MAXXI Foundation.

The MIRA space will present the project, vision and objectives of the new museum and will host, every day of the fair at 5 pm, I Can Feel What I Cannot Yet See, a new project by the Polisonum collective for MIRA, presented for the first time at Artissima.

On Saturday 31 October at 4.30 pm, at Artissima’s Official Meeting Point, the Director-General for Contemporary Creativity, Costantino D’Orazio, will take part in the talk Open Italy: Cultural Policies for Italian Art, included in the fair’s official programme.

On Sunday 1 November at 4.15 pm, also at the Official Meeting Point, the talk The Contemporary as a Tool of Cultural Diplomacy: The Vision of the Ministry of Culture’s Mission Unit for Cultural Cooperation with Africa and the Mediterranean will take place. The session will explore how contemporary culture can serve as a bridge, foster dialogue and act as a tool of cultural diplomacy.