Art, Exhibitions and Special Projects
Spoleto, June 21, 2023 - With the ribbon cutting of the sixty-sixth edition of Festival dei Due Mondi friday June 23 also inaugurates the many special projects and exhibitions surrounding the programming, transforming Spoleto into a living place of artistic creation.
ART AND EXHIBITIONS.
The project On the tracks of Gian Carlo Menotti, an exhibition itinerary conceived to from the recovery and enhancement of the heritage of documents, photographs, period sketches, costumes and stage furnishings covering more than 60 years of history, continues into 2023. On the tracks of Gian Carlo Menotti traces a human and professional portrait of Maestro Menotti, from his work on stage as a director to a glimpse into his personal universe. The narrative journey includes several stages, from the exhibition spaces in Via Aurelio Saffi, to the Documentation Center of Festival dei Due Mondi Casa Menotti and the Giosuè Carducci Municipal Library.
Fabiana Giacomotti is the creator of The Dream Workshop, the first widespread edutainment project on costume to corollary to the new staging ofopera Pelléas et Mélisande. In three different moments, the project includes a small comparative exhibition of costumes from performances of Pelléas et Mélisande, a morning of study dedicated to professionals and schools of costume and theater, and a series of workshops open to the public to learn the value of costume in the relationship between text and music and learn to create an easy costume/stage accessory.
The Spoleto Municipal Museums Network, under the direction of Saverio Verini, offers a rich program of initiatives. Exhibitions, installations, workshops, meetings: the aim is to create connections between the six venues - Palazzo Collicola, the Casa Romana, the Church of Saints John and Paul, the Textile and Costume Museum, the Museum of Science and the Territory, the Mining Museum - uniting history and the present, encouraging contamination between disciplinary fields, broadening fruition. Palazzo Collicola hosts Flavio Favelli's solo exhibition; the group exhibition La sostanza agitata, which brings together proposals from some of the most interesting emerging profiles in contemporary art and eleven artists under 35; the exhibition Pittura Preziosa dedicated to paintings made on stone, copper and glass surfaces; and the solo exhibition of the Spoleto photographer Gabriele Donati, who died prematurely.
The Mahler and LeWitt Studios association, which has been promoting an art residency program to Spoleto since 2010, is hosting some of the Spoleto66 artists this year - set designer and director Silvia Costa and artist and musician Lonnie Holley - who are presenting their work in two Open Studio events (July 1-2, at 17; July 8, at 17). Also from June 23 to July 9, the San Nicolo monumental complex will host a solo exhibition by New York-based photographer Mary Manning entitled In Excelsis, featuring some shots taken during her residency at Mahler & LeWitt Studios in 2022.
SPECIAL PROJECTS
LANDS to Spoleto 66 The Pianeta Redenta: from June 30 to July 2, the gardens of Villa Redenta are transformed into a large creative campsite and host a program of artistic activities and workshops as part of the project resulting from the collaboration between the Terraforma festival and the Foundation Festival dei Due Mondi. The artistic proposal includes activities from morning to evening, from the deep listening workshop to curated by Diana Lola Posani to sound walks with Radio Safari and Superpaesaggio - an experimental project by Nicola Ratti, Enrico Malatesta and Attila Faravelli - to the Edizioni Mondo label showcase with live performances by Polysick and Rotla, and a DJ set by the label's founder, L.U.C.to. A special collaboration with FuoriFestival includes a DJ set by Luce Clandestina to Villa Redenta and continues the evenings of friday and Saturday at Meeting Point.
On July 4 at Teatro Romano Maj. Filippo Cangiamila conducts the Italian Army Band in the traditional free concert, this year dedicated to the United States of America on Independence Day, with music by James Barnes, Paul Hindemith, George Gershwin, Ottorino Respighi and John Williams.
The Fondazione Carla Fendi, Main Partner of the Festival, enriches the cultural proposal with ALL IS NUMBER, an interdisciplinary project that from mathematics to generative art, from music to Machine Learning processes makes us reflect on what makes human beings capable of creating: the Ex Battistero della Manna d'Oro hosts for the entire period of the Festival a video installation by Gabriele Gianni on the creative force of abstract thought realized with the tools of Artificial Intelligence. On the final day of the Festival, a discussion between personalities from the world of mathematics, music and AI is scheduled at Teatro Caio Melisso Spazio Carla Fendi. During the final evening, the Carla Fendi STEM 2023 Prize will be awarded to astronaut Andrea Patassa for being selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) among 22,500 candidates as an astronaut reservist class of 2022.
Once again this year, Festival dei Due Mondi is hosting the theater review and international workshops organized by the Silvio d'Amico National Academy of Dramatic Art from June 24 to July 10: the 14th edition of the Academy Project, dedicated to the presentation of the best works of 2023, and the 10th edition of the European Young Theatre, which sees actors and student directors from the most important international schools confront each other in a Groups Competition. The theater review includes shows directed from students of the directing course or from established directors such as Carlo Cecchi, Antonio Latella, Massimiliano Civica, Massimiliano Farau. Finally, on the program are the winning performances of the Andrea Camilleri Prize for the younger generation of artists, named after the writer, director and teacher of the Academy.
Also collecting the best experiences of talented actors, directors and emerging companies on the Italian and international scene is La MaMa Spoleto Open (June 23 to July 9), to curated by La MaMa Umbria International, an artistic residency, study and production center founded in 1990 from Ellen Stewart, former founder and artistic director of La MaMa E.T.C. Theatre in New York.
Musica from Casa Menotti, a review of from chamber music concerts now in its tenth edition, which takes place in what was once the Spoleto residence of Maestro Gian Carlo Menotti, is back. Organized by the Monini Foundation and curated by artistic director Federico Mattia Papi, it presents 8 concerts and hosts 17 musicians from from around the world thanks also to to partnerships with prestigious musical institutions such asAccademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Royal Academy of Music in London, Le Dimore del Quartetto, European Chamber Music Academy, Tetracordo Jazz Summit and Detroit Sessions. The "A Window on the Two Worlds" Prize, now in its 14th year, is awarded to the big names and emerging talents of Spoleto66.
Rai For ESG Sustainability returns again in 2023 with three events in collaboration with Rai Umbria: the meeting with scientist Stefano Mancuso (July 8), the project Culture Breaks Bars, with the participation of the cast of Mare Fuori (July 1, Rocca Albornoziana), with the aim of supporting the theatrical activity carried out in penitentiary institutions and highlighting the important role played by Rai in telling the story of this difficult field, and the event Feminist Choreographies (July 7) as part of the project No Women No Panel.
Also among the special initiatives is Utopias and Dystopias, the 8th National Day of the World That's Not There, a two-day seminar (July 7-8) organized from CESP - Network of Restricted Schools, with a panel discussion focusing on education pathways in prisons, from literacy to university, and a training and refresher seminar for practitioners. From June 23 to July 9, Spoleto's Alternative Mobility Pathways will host Je est un autre #2, an exhibition chronicling the backstage and set-ups of the Theater-Prison project, with a remount and catalog dedicated to the eleven years of activity of the Teodelapio association for the #SIneNOmine project.
FuoriFestival, now in its eighth edition, continues its vocation of promoting the contemporary, offering multidisciplinary programming that finds space at the Meeting Point, located in the roof garden of Campello Square, and at the terrace of the Festival's Historical Documentation Center at Casa Menotti. The 2023 theme, The Trace, represents the meeting of different generations and points of view, united in leaving a mark for future generations.
Back for the 15th edition is the Socially Correct contest, which each year offers the opportunity to art and communication students to measure themselves by creating campaigns on social issues. An internship at the creative department of the Saatchi & Saatchi agency is up for grabs. Cyberbullying is the theme of the new edition of the contest.
The research of the Spoleto State Archives Section on the origins of the Festival continues: a conference (June 28), the presentation of the book Spoleto 1963, the sixth Festival dei Due Mondi and the exhibition set up in the premises of the archival institution retrace extraordinary moments of history to reread the origins of the event.
The Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Spoleto continues its interventions to support of art and culture. It is supporting the event again this year, and on Sunday, June 25, it is offering an award as a special recognition to Benjamin Millepied and Alexandre Tharaud, protagonists of the Festival who have distinguished themselves in their professional activities for artistic expressiveness and human values.
A selection of large- and medium-format photographs taken by writer and poet Dacia Maraini between the 1960s and 1970s can be viewed at the National Archaeological Museum and Teatro Romano . Maraini captures through her lens the monumentality of archaeological sites as well as the charm of nature in dialogue with the rich collection of artifacts preserved in the Museum's halls.
Thanks to the collaboration between CONI and the FIGC, as part of CONI's initiatives for the Spoleto Festival, the Palazzo Comunale is hosting the Coverciano Football Museum's traveling exhibition Shades of Blue, which recounts the history and triumphs of the national teams through a selection of memorabilia and the display of some of the most prestigious trophies.
Detailed scheduling of special projects and exhibitions is available on the official festival website www.festivaldispoleto.com