Esteemed AEROPONIC ACTS 2023 respondents Francesco Urbano Ragazzi (Francesco Ragazzi and Francesco Urbano) win the first Italian Fellowship for Curatorial Research. In a world where globalization seems to give way to rising nationalist extremisms, the duo ask: What is the meaning and value of exhibitions promoting national artistic identity? How can we articulate a discourse on a territory’s creative distinctiveness while fostering the intercultural dialogue essential to contemporary democracies? – These are the pressing issues at the core of the duo's research project, titled Altérité Italienne. At the conclusion of the residency a presentation of the research will be held in Rome, and New York in the fall of 2025.
Starting from Carla Lonzi's last text – a short essay published in the catalog of Identité Italienne (Centre Pompidou, Paris, 1981), in which the feminist philosopher distances herself from the system represented by Germano Celant's exhibition – the research will contextualize Lonzi's art criticism within the broader framework of her philosophy, also focusing on her archive preserved in Rome. Inspired by her dialogical method, the duo will critically examine the role of national exhibitions in contemporary Italy, collaborating with a group of artists either from or based in the country: Monia Ben Hamouda, Ludovica Carbotta, Liryc Dela Cruz, Tomaso De Luca, Michele Gabriele, Beatrice Gibson, Invernomuto, Muna Mussie, and Natália Trejbalová. The American Academy in Rome will stand as a cultural embassy, providing a space to articulate the question: How is it possible to think about an Altérité Italienne?
The project’s objectives are to support excellence in Italian curatorial and critical research and practice from an international perspective, to promote awareness of Italian art and its ecosystem worldwide—particularly in the United States—and to highlight the opportunities that the Ministry of Culture, through the Directorate- General for Contemporary Creativity, offers to international institutions interested in investing in projects dedicated to Italian art.
The jury, composed of Ilaria Puri Purini, Artistic Director of the Academy, Matteo Piccioni, Art Historian at the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity, and independent curator Ilaria Gianni, selected Francesco Urbano Ragazzi from a pool of 38 applicants.
About Francesco Urbano Ragazzi