Creative space and territorial safeguard (Disegno Sociale Italia)

Daniela Aquilia
Curator

The exhibition “Creative space and territorial safeguard” housed at the “Palace of Arts” one of the most important and suggestive nineteenth-century of the city of Paternò, in the province of Catania , from 21st September to 19th October, is an artistic project conceived by Rosario Di Benedetto and Giuseppina Radice in the laboratory of ideas “Per favore lasciate fuori le scarpe”(Please leave the shoes outside). This laboratory is founded by them to promote a series of cultural activities that set off the Palace of Art in Paternò. The exhibition follows an international contest where has entered italian and foreign photographers and videoartists, realizing works inspired to safeguard of the inner and outside world¹. The events is organized by the cultural association Ideattiva, in collaboration with the town council of Paternò, the Academy of Fine Arts of Catania and the town council of Catania.

Through photography and video art, more than one hundred artists from all over the world, show what and how is perceived phisical, intimate and creative space of man.

The concept of space is in flux and there is no doubt that man and space have a symbiotic relationship: as space is transformed according to the way in which man interacts with it so man and society change according to the way in which they live space: rural space became metropolitan. In it, airports, supermarkets, railway stations and service areas, become similar to the “non-places” of Marc Augè, representing the scenery where millions of people meet, without entering into a relationship with each other. Ecologically sound is that society that don’t spoil the environment but that protect and respect it. There is no doubt that the safeguard of our territorial space is an important aspect not to be overlooked.

The metropolitan space today is outlined as ” Cyberspace”². Thanks to the use of internet which allows an easy and immediate interaction is possible to break down the physical barriers of distance, communicate in a real and immediate way, go beyond the wariness due to differences of race or social class. Viviana Gravano stress that ” The last few decades have marked the end of the border the irreversible demolition of the idea of frontier. […] What marks this radical change? A widespread communication system which has radically changed the perception of information and therefore the global condition of the world”³.

The exhibition go into another dimention of space: the intimate, inhabited by our creative self, where there are also phobias, anxieties, hopes, inner monologues. In the opinion of Giuseppina Radice, even this creative space run the risks to be destroyed by negligence and ignorance. Concerning this she writes:” In my opinion it would be hoped that every artist, every poet, every person who wishes to continue to grow in his life can find one’s own shadow space with whom to dialogue with him talking about himself and other things and where again allow oneself an ignorance to love, cultivate and study in depth in order to be able to fill it; a shadow space that makes him understand how to be tuned with the rhythm of time and with the movement of the live which is basically a continuous wandering learning. The world is intense before it is complex: it is intense in all of us”⁴.

The exhibition is an exchange of views between actors of the world of contemporary art, and of entrepreneurial class through a rich program of workshop, seminars, meetings that will animate the exhibition/event and the city of Paternò for twenty-two days. Their goal is to awaken citizen to protection of their space, create communication networks and promote tourism in one of the most significant places in the province of Catania.

The highlight of the exhibition is provided by the collaborative support of the Artprotacheles of Berlin, which gives to a single winner artist a stay in an Artist House where it is possible to reside in the premises of the Tacheles, enjoy the city, influence and be influenced by contemporary art. The vote of the work will be expressed by people who visit the exhibition and by the artistic jury that selected the works.

The contemporary art exhibition will be enriched by the presence of two associations and workshops:

– The environmental Association “Vivisimeto” chaired doctor Mr. Luigi Puglisi, who, during the opening, will present to the audience a wide programme of music, theater and organic food tasting

-The Cultural Association “Contanimare”, chaired by Psychologist Lilia Di Rosa, who will present to the public the workshop “Looking for the places of the soul”, promoting the psychophysical wellbeing, understood as a space to be preserved for the healthy living of man and society.

Workshop of “alfabetizzazione all’arte contemporanea” (contemporary art literacy) held by art historian Giuseppina Radice;

The photographic workshops held by the photographer Marcello Trovato;

Meeting about video-art held by the international famous video artists Maria Helene Bertino, Canecapovolto and Alessandro Gagliardo;

intensive theatre workshop, structured to improve the analytical skills of the actor, titled “azioneREazione”, by one of the most remarkable actors and directors of the Italian survey, Saverio Deodato.

Rosario Di Benedetto and Antonino Viola are curators of the mounting of ” Creative space and territorial safeguard” with the supervision of Professor Aldo Giuseppe Zucco.

The hall of the master Giuseppe Leone was mounted by Emanuela Alfano.

– Section dedicated to artists widely known in the artistic outline: master Giuseppe Leone whom is dedicated an entire hall of the Palace of Arts. Alessandro Aiello, video artist and founder of the group ” Canecapovolto”; Antonello Arena artist and painting teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts of Messina; Carmelo Bongiorno, photographer. He teaches digital photography at the Academy of Fine Arts in Catania; Carmen Cardillo. She teaches Archiving and conservation of photography at Academy of Fine Arts in Catania; Alessandro Gagliardo video artist and foundator of Malastrada Film; Vittorio Graziano, photographer and art director of the Med Photo Fest, national photography festival now in its fifth edition, Alessandra Lanese photographer and principal of the Academy of Fine Arts in Messina, Carmelo Mangione, professor of scenography at the Academy of Fine Arts in Catania, Carmelo Nicosia, photographer, professor and head of the department of photographic techniques and history of Photography at the Academy of Fine Arts in Catania, Massimo Rossi, video artist and professor of video and photo editing at the Academy of fine Arts in Catania, Perugia, Venice.

– Photography section: Maria Clara Anicito, Maria Clara Anicito, Daniele Brancato, Raffaele Cabras, Marco Caterini, Caterina Cavedoni, Domenico Cipollina, Stefano Cirillo, Luca Condorelli, Antonio Contoli, Aniello Coppola, Carla Cuomo, Arianna De Vita, Stefania Di Filippo, Verdiana Di Franco, Massimo Di Rocco, Giusanna Di Stefano, Jakob Fabien, Sergio Gianotta, Paola Guerra, Salvatore Gulino, Catherine Holmes, Giancarlo Kutrona, Daniela Lorefice, Ruxandra Lupu, Gianni Mazzesi, Janila Mezzatesta, Laura Migliano, Samuele Mollo, Dario Nanì, Danilo Nicolosi, Caterina Nuitta, Filippo Papa, Simone Pastore, Ilaria Piccardi, Maja Pilati, Francesca Privitera, Irene Puglisi, Riccardo Puglisi, Roberta Ragusa, Edoardo Romagnoli, Laura Romagnoli, Alessandro Romeo, Maria Josè Romero Lopez, Francesco Romoli, Sara Russo, Clara Saitta, Andrea Silva, Marcello Trovato.

–Video section: Gabriele Abbruzzese, Marco Cangelosi, Angelo Carmisciano, Marco Contino, Stephen Copland, Valentina Costa, Flavia Dalila D’amico, Jessica Houston, Raj Jawa, Sophie Le Meillour, Alberto Magrin, Fred Maes, Libera Mazzoleni, Joào Meirinhos, Laura Migliano, Marco Noto, Gerdi Patanaj, Gabriele Rebagliati, Sergi Rubiò, Celestino Sousa Sebastiao, Gregorio Sgarra, Laura Troiano, Vedi Tu, Amalia Teresa Violi, Juan Carlos Zaldivar, Zongliang Fang.

We thank the mayor of the town of Paternò, prof. Mauro Mangano for making the event possible by opening the door to an event of great cultural, artistic and social appeal. The Academy of Fine Arts of Catania, the partner of the event “Acicastello ON line Rete Radio Network” and all the other sponsors that have joined and believed in the project, citizens of Paternò for the welcome and hospitality.

1 The artists have been carefully selected by a qualified jury composed by Daniela Aquilia, curator of the exhibition and president of the Cultural Ideattiva; Rosario Di Benedetto, artist, photographer and the project creator; Graziano Distefano, President of Artprotacheles; Alessandro Gagliardo, President of collective Canecapovolto; Vittorio Graziano, Art Director of the Med Photo Fest, an international festival of photography; Giuseppina Radice art historian, critic and curator of the exhibition.

2 Cyberspace is a term coined by William Gibson in his science fiction novels to indicate the existence of virtual reality in which it is possible to assume new identities.

3 V. Gravano, “Crossing. Progetti fotografici di confine”, Milan 1998.