Turin, October 30 (askanews) – The Ministry of Culture's Directorate General for Contemporary Creativity is participating in Artissima with two different stands, complemented by meetings with industry professionals, talks, and performances over the three days of the fair. A stand at the fair offers the opportunity to learn more about the Directorate's international promotion of Italian art, also serving as a meeting point for artists, curators, gallery owners, museum directors, and industry professionals.
A second space is dedicated to MIRA – Mediterranean Institute for Research and Arts, a new cultural center in Messina. The project is promoted by the Ministry of Culture, through the Directorate General for Contemporary Creativity and the Mission Unit for Cultural Cooperation with Africa and the Greater Mediterranean, by the Municipality and the University of Messina, with the support of the MAXXI Foundation. The performance "I Can Hear What I Still Can't See" by the Polisonum collective, conceived for the launch of MIRA's artistic program, will be presented here every day at 17 pm. Chiara Ianeselli, director of the Ministry of Culture's Mission Unit for Cultural Cooperation with Africa and the Greater Mediterranean, explained the project to askanews: "Mira – the Mediterranean Institute for Research and Arts – is a research institute that focuses on the Mediterranean. It's no coincidence that I use this term, which has a very deep research connotation and is deeply rooted in studies on the Mediterranean and not just the Mediterranean.
The perspective is to look towards Africa, but also to the diaspora, and therefore to migration, and not to limit itself to Italy. It is deeply rooted in Sicily, particularly in Messina, because its two locations are the Morandi Towers, an iconic site on the Strait of Messina, and Villa Pace, a 19th-century villa near the Morandi Towers.
While we await the restoration of these two buildings, we decided to work locally and present the project, and thanks to Costantino D'Orazio, General Director of Contemporary Creativity, we were given a space here at Artissima. We decided not only to present ourselves institutionally, but also to programmatically provide space for the artists, particularly the Polisonum collective. It's no coincidence that we already work with a "multi-voiced" collective—this is the meaning of the collective's name. At Artissima, they're presenting a preview of what we'll be doing in Messina next year. It's a work focused on the Strait of Messina, looking at cetaceans, particularly whales. It was perhaps a coincidence, perhaps the result of research: Mira is a star within the Whale constellation, so an interesting balance was created when we began a dialogue with them. It is a complex project that examines the migrations of not only animals, but also humans, and especially the Strait of Messina as a passageway not only between Sicily and Italy but between Europe and Africa. MIRA's programming will continue in Messina on Saturday, November 7, 2026, at 6:00 PM at Palazzo del Monte di Pietà, where "The Sacred and the Flash – Myth and Power in Mediterranean Pyrotechnics" will be held, a meeting dedicated to the visual, ritual, socio-cultural, and political dimensions of pyrotechnics. The panelists will include Andrea Botto, an artist and photographer who has dedicated his research to this field for over a decade; Berardino Palumbo, Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Messina; Mario Sarica, an ethnomusicologist and scholar of popular traditions; and the writer Massimo Maugeri. The Mediterranean Institute for Research and Arts takes over from the previous MAXXI Med project, launched in 2023, strengthening its shared dimension through the involvement of partners. Institutional. It develops interdisciplinary research dedicated to the Mediterranean, with a particular focus on Sicily as a meeting place between Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Through visual arts, performance, music, and dance, the project promotes cultural exchanges, residencies, and collaborations with local and international artists and communities. Education is central to MIRA's mission, thanks to the involvement of universities and research centers. The center aims to enhance the tangible and intangible heritage of the Mediterranean by fostering dialogue, cooperation, and cultural diversity. The goal is to support new forms of research and artistic production capable of countering the processes of contemporary cultural homogenization. Thanks to an agreement signed between the Directorate General for Contemporary Creativity and the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome, at Artissima the museum's management will also be able to select works for purchase to enrich its permanent collection.
Askanews