October 8, 2022
Since 2005, AMACI—the Association of Italian Contemporary Art Museums—has held the Giornata del Contemporaneo as its main event, with the help of the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture and the cooperation of the Directorate-General for Public and Cultural Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. The 24 museums affiliated with AMACI in Italy, as well as all the other organizations and institutions across the world that freely choose to join the project, will open their doors to the general public on Saturday, October 8, 2022, for a free celebration of contemporary art. A multifaceted programme will be held, involving not only large cities, but also smaller towns—which have always been very active in this sense—in order to spend a single day emphasising the important function that contemporary art plays in the cultural, social and economic development in Italy and abroad.
The Giornata del Contemporaneo, now in its 18th edition, will take place in person in October. This major celebration will once again open museums, foundations, public and private institutions, galleries, studios, and artists’ spaces to the general public for no charge in an effort to encourage participation by as many venues as possible and to highlight the network of national and international contemporary art. The event will continue to be in a hybrid format (physical and digital) to promote and enhance potential participation in both online and offline offerings, and it will center on the theme of ecology, which is linked to that of sustainability. These global issues put us in front of the need to rethink the system of contemporary art through a renewed awareness and a more widespread sensitivity towards the theme.
The Giornata del Contemporaneo: Italian Contemporary Art will return to foreign embassies, consulates, and Italian cultural institutions from October 8 to 14, 2022. Thanks to AMACI’s partnership with the Ministries of Culture and Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, its cooperation network will be strengthened by all those institutional realities that spread and promote Italian contemporary art abroad. The event is distinguished as usual by free entrance and free participation in all efforts.
In order to provide greater depth to this reflection, the directors of the associated museums have decided to entrust Giorgio Andreotta Calò (Venice, 1979) with the creation of the guiding image for the event, which in the past years has seen the involvement of 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) and Armin Linke (2021). The image chosen by the artist is Icarus (2021–2022), the latest piece in a complex project created by Giorgio Andreotta Calò since 2019. In the year the Giornata del Contemporaneo turns 18, Giorgio Andreotta Calò’s image seems to respond in a symbolically open way to the invitation to reflect on the environmental crisis, emphasising the importance of passing the baton to the new generations, the adults of tomorrow, to whom we give the responsibility of building a better future than the present we bequeath to them.
Sign up here to participate in the 18th edition of the Giornata del Contemporaneo and open your space on Saturday, October 8, 2022 opening free of charge to the public through exhibitions, workshops, events and conferences, artists and new ideas. The edition maintains a hybrid format: you can also join with a digital project. If you take part with a digital project, it will be necessary to present it through your social media channels on Saturday 8 October, accompanied by the hashtag #GiornataDelContemporaneo in order to highlight the network of realities promoting contemporary art.