02/11/2024 04:15:00
Gibellina is Named "Italian Capital of Contemporary Art" for 2026
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The Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuli, has announced Gibellina as the first "Capital of Contemporary Art" in Rome, at the Spadolini Hall of the Ministry. This event was attended by Angelo Piero Cappello, Director General of Contemporary Creativity, and the jury president, Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo. Representatives from the five finalist cities: Carrara, Gallarate, Gibellina, Pescara, and Todi were also present. In October, the names of these five finalist cities were disclosed, which the jury, led by Sandretto Re Rebaudengo and including Sofia Gnoli, Walter Guadagnini, Renata Cristina Mazzantini, and Vincenzo Santoro, selected after reviewing 23 candidatures during public hearings held on October 25 in Rome at the Ministry of Culture (MiC). This new recognition, established by a call in April 2024, aims to encourage and support the planning and operational capacity of Italian cities in the field of contemporary art promotion and valorization.
A Million for Contemporary Projects Gibellina won with the project "Bring Me the Future", which will unfold through initiatives related to contemporary art and creativity, cultural planning, urban regeneration, restoration, and particularly the construction of a future-oriented vision that acknowledges beauty as a shared and rejuvenating value. Thanks to a state contribution of one million euros, the town will be able to showcase cultural projects involving activities such as exhibitions, festivals, and reviews for a year, in addition to developing and refurbishing spaces dedicated to contemporary art consumption.
The Jury's Reasons The Sicilian town—famous for Alberto Burri's "Grande Cretto", initially created between 1984 and 1989 and completed in 2015 on the site of the old town of Gibellina, destroyed by the 1968 Belice earthquake—earned this title for several reasons cited by the jury: “The first 'Italian Capital of Contemporary Art' with its application provides our country a solid and comprehensive project, presenting today's Italy with a model cultural intervention, founded on values and actions that recognize art's social role and culture as a common good. For its projective capability in revitalizing its extraordinary heritage of works, blending memory and future, conservation and valorization, local focus and international ambition; for its ability to engage new generations and the entire citizenship, addressing the broader territory based on a shared civic consciousness, forging alliances with public and private, national and international institutions; for being a pioneering city in what we now call urban regeneration, and for its capacity to be both a city-artwork and a livable city: for its project, through which the city will become a major laboratory where the practices and energies of contemporary art will come together to share thoughts and solutions on the themes of public space, community, landscape, sustainability, and the comprehensive concept of legacy. For all these reasons stated above, we identify Gibellina as the 'Italian Capital of Contemporary Art' for 2026.”
