Q&A evening at the Italian Cultural Institute

Friday 20 Apr 2018 6:30pm - 9:45pm

The Italian Cultural Institute, in collaboration with the University of Melbourne's School of Languages and Linguistics warmly invites you to attend an evening of Q&A with: Giorgio De Finis, director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Rom (MACRO) and Veronica Montaninio, (Rome based artist).

Key Themes

How can contemporary art effectively engage and dialogue with a diverse, fluid, transcultural community?
How can a museum play a role in the creation of this dialogue?
How can an art museum foster the creation of a grass-roots sense of place?

Background

Since 2009, at the outskirts of the Roman municipality, a former salami factory is occupied by 60 families from a variety of backgrounds. From impoverished Italians to Northern Africans, from South Americans to Rom and Sinti, people live together in what they call a ‘comunità meticcia’, a mestizo, mixed community, multilingual, multicultural, and yet intrinsically marginal and marginalised.

MAAM is an art project/museum that inhabits and engages with this place. Artists donate artworks, run projects, perform, dwell and contribute to the ongoing creation of a sense of place while bringing to the forefront the dramatic problem of public housing and housing affordability.

Giorgio and Veronica will discuss the ways in which this dialogic experience is at the basis of the vision for the new MACRO Asilo project, beginning in October: an idea that transforms a central public cultural institution into a fluid space for the community, to freely engage with art, build a sense of place and directly participate in the development of cultural activities.

Presentation and Q&A

Giorgio and Veronica will present their work at MAAM, Museo dell'Altro e dell'Altrove di Metropoliz and the presentation will be followed by a Q&A facilitated by Dr Malcolm Angelucci from the University of Melbourne’s School of Languages and Linguistics.

When: Friday 20 April, 2018
Time: 6.30pm
Where: Italian Cultural Institute, Elm Tree House, 233 Domain Road, South Yarra