TWENTIETH GIORNATA DEL CONTEMPORANEO

SATURDAY 12 OCTOBER 2024

Tomaso Binga for the Twentieth Giornata del Contemporaneo, Donna in gabbia, 1974 -2024

Saturday 12 October 2024

The 24 museums of AMACI and about 1.000 realities all over Italy

will open for the twentieth time their doors for free

in presence and online with exhibitions, events, and workshops

to welcome and involve the public.

From 6 to 12 October 2024,

thanks to the collaboration with the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture

and with the Directorate-General for Public and Cultural Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation,

Giornata del Contemporaneo | Italian Contemporary Art

will extend beyond national borders again

to strengthen its cooperation network with those institutional realities

that spread and promote Italian contemporary art abroad.

Saturday 12 October 2024 sees the return of Giornata del Contemporaneo, the great event that has been bringing contemporary art to the general public since 2005. Promoted by AMACI - Associazione dei Musei d'Arte Contemporanea Italiani (Association of Italian Contemporary Art Museums), the Giornata del Contemporaneo (Contemporary Art Day) is realised with the support of the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture and with the collaboration of the Directorate-General for Public and Cultural Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

Now in its twentieth edition, the Giornata del Contemporaneo will, as always, involve museums, foundations, public and private institutions, galleries, studios and artists' spaces all over Italy, recounting the vitality of contemporary art in our country. Once again this year, to encourage and enhance the widest possible participation, the event will maintain a hybrid format, physical and digital, with online and offline proposals.

The guiding image for this twenteth edition of Giornata del Contemporaneo is the work Donna in Gabbia (1975/2024) by Tomaso Binga (pseudonym of Bianca Pucciarelli Menna, Salerno, 1931), an Italian artist chosen by AMACI Museum Directors after Michelangelo Pistoletto (2006), Maurizio Cattelan (2007), Paola Pivi (2008), Luigi Ontani (2009), Stefano Arienti (2010), Giulio Paolini (2011), Francesco Vezzoli (2012), Marzia Migliora (2013), Adrian Paci (2014), Alfredo Pirri (2015), Emilio Isgrò (2016), Liliana Moro (2017), Marcello Maloberti (2018), Eva Marisaldi (2019), Armin Linke (2021), Giorgio Andreotta Calò (2022) and Binta Diaw (2023).

The image proposed by Tomaso Binga for the Twentieth Giornata del Contemporaneo is taken from one of his performances in 1974 in which the artist, a feminist and women's rights activist, presented herself with her head enclosed in a canary cage, being fed by male hands: a reflection on the condition of constrictive subalternity of women, but more generally on the inequalities based on privilege and forms of control, often presented as care and protection. The canary cage thus becomes a barrier not only physical, but also metaphorical, on the inaccessibility to freedom as an inalienable right and to all the tools and possibilities that can lead each of us to a condition of greater awareness and emancipation. And it is precisely accessibility, in its broadest sense, that will be the theme of this Giornata de Contemporaneo, in line with ICOM's new definition of a museum (Prague, 24 August 2022) which states:

‘A museum is a permanent non-profit institution serving society, which researches, collects, preserves, interprets and exhibits cultural heritage, tangible and intangible.

Open to the public, accessible and inclusive, museums promote diversity and sustainability.

They operate and communicate in an ethical and professional manner and with community participation, offering diverse experiences for education, enjoyment, reflection and knowledge sharing.’

Thanks to the support of the Ministry of Culture's Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity and the collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation's Directorate-General for Public and Cultural Diplomacy, Giornata del Contemporaneo will renew the involvement of MAECI's diplomatic-consular network composed of Embassies Consulates and Italian Cultural Institutes, and will be extended abroad from Sunday 6 to Saturday 12 October 2024, encouraging the participation of AMACI Directors in events organised by the foreign network of the Farnesina and by entities active in the countries of reference.

As in previous editions, the event will maintain several cores of activities, all with free admission: an ad hoc programme of AMACI member museums, initiatives developed in collaboration with MAECI's foreign network, the involvement of the network of Luoghi del Contemporaneo promoted by the General-Directorate for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture, and the proposals of the adhering subjects. A very rich calendar of events that brings out the widespread network of realities that promote the various contemporary languages on the national and international territory.

As a testament to the event's well-established prominence and the importance of its role in the national system, Head of State Sergio Mattarella awarded the Giornata del Contemporaneo with the Medal of the President of the Republic again this year.

The event has the support of the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture, the collaboration of the Directorate-General for Public and Cultural Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the patronage of Rappresentanza in Italia della Commissione europea, Camera dei deputati, Ministero della Cultura, Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale, Conferenza delle Regioni e delle Province autonome, UPI - Unione Province d'Italia, ANCI - Associazione Nazionale Comuni Italiani and ICOM Italy.

The Giornata del Contemporaneo benefits from the Partnership with Alfasigma, the Media Partnership with Il Giornale dell'Arte and Rai Cultura, and the Technical Sponsorship of Artshell.

INFO

To participate in the 2024 edition it will be necessary to register by Friday 11 October at 4 p.m. using the form available at this link realised in collaboration with Artshell.

For further information please write to giornatadelcontemporaneo@amaci.org.