23 - 25 May 2008




The first international festival dedicated to contemporary art and its protagonists will take place in Faenza from 23 to 25 May.

From 23 to 25 May, Faenza will be a meeting place for international contemporary art. The Festival of Contemporary Art will provide a unique opportunity to “view” art through the words of its protagonists, in order to understand its potential developments and answer the questions of the
general public.

No works of art will be on display, but more than 100 speakers from all over the world, including artists, curators, critics, representatives from museums, art spaces and art schools, as well as gallery managers, entrepreneurs, public administrators, editors and journalists will meet in Faenza.

The 3 days of the festival will contain more than 30 events, with discussions, round table meetings and forums focusing on contemporary art and its increasing contaminations with other creative sectors, as well as its relationships with society.

The event is promoted by the Municipality of Faenza and goodwill, as part of the project “Moto d’idee. Faenza verso il distretto culturale evoluto” (Faenza towards the system-wide
cultural district).

The underlying theme, which is also the title of the first edition, curated by the scientific committee made up of Carlos Basualdo, Pier Luigi Sacco and Angela Vettese, is “futuro presente / present continuous”, expressing the need to consider the future trends of contemporary art, which is constantly expanding and changing.

In the “To be made” talks, the focus will be on art itself, as told by the artists: Dan Graham interviewed by Germano Celant, Magdalena Campos – Pons by Michele Robecchi, Marjetica Potrc by Gabi Scardi, and Francesco Vezzoli by Massimiliano Gioni.

The festival will also focus on the artists of tomorrow. Gradisca, a special event where Alberto Garutti debates with a group of debutant artists, and the forum Art and Curatorial Schools. The Next Step, bringing together representatives from some of the most prestigious international art schools, including Robert Storr and Alexander Alberro, will provide a fresh view of what is up and coming in the new generations.

The current state of flux of museums in their manifold aspects - their role in the art system, their dialogue with the local context, their dialectics with the art market, and so on – will be dealt with in detail through forums involving some of the key figures of the current international scene, such as Iwona Blazwick, the director of the Whitechapel, which is due to start an extensive enlargement project in 2009.

Substantial attention will also be paid to cultural centres where artistic production intersects with other disciplines, giving life to new forms of creative production. Many of them are emerging all over the world as the result of the transformation of industrial buildings, in connection with processes of urban and regional renewal that follow the dynamics of the system-wide cultural district: creative dismissions, as they have been termed by goodwill in its pioneering, extensive survey of current practices and models in the international context.

The discussions that make up the contaminations series will reflect on the dialogue between contemporary art and proximate fields such as architecture, design and fashion, through the voice of protagonists of the calibre of internationally acclaimed fashion designer Antonio Marras, and chef Massimo Bottura. A special discussion will take place between Stefano Boeri, Oliviero Toscani and Renato Soru, the president of Sardinia Region that is currently undertaking a massive program of artistic and architectural renewal, focusing on the relationship between art, architecture and
regional development.

Last but not least, the festival will also provide an opportunity for people working in the sector and enthusiasts, to find out about upcoming events in the international cultural calendar: from the biennial exhibition Manifesta 2008, to be held in Italy for the first time, to the second Bienal del Fin del Mundo, which, starting in the city of Ushuaia, in the Argentine province of the Tierra del Fuego, will invite artists to consider how “another world is possible at the end of the world”.

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For further information:

Santa Nastro, press office
sn@good-will.it
+393295794324
+39051220080
www.festivalartecontemporanea.it
www.good-will.it