From Salami to Art: An Evening with Giorgio de Finis and Veronica Montanino

The Italian Cultural Institute, in collaboration with the School of Languages and Linguistics of The University of Melbourne, organises an evening of Q&A with Giorgio de Finis, the new director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome (MACRO), and Veronica Montanino, a Roman based artist with a studio that involves engaged public work with marginalities. How can contemporary art effectively engage and dialogue with a diverse, fluid, transcultural community? How can a museum play a role in the creation of this dialogue? How can an art museum foster the creation of a grass-root sense of place? Giorgio and Veronica will present their work at the Museo dell’Altro e dell’Altrove di Metropoliz (MAAM). Since 2009, a former salami factory in the outskirts of Rome has been occupied by 60 families from a variety of backgrounds. From impoverished Italians to Northern Africans, from South Americans to Roma and Sinti, people live together in what they call a ‘comunità meticcia’, a mixed community. MAAM is an art project/museum that inhabits this space and interacts with it. Artists are called to donate artworks, run projects, perform, dwell, contribute to the ongoing creation of a sense of place, while bringing to the forefront the dramatic problem of public housing and housing affordability. From this, Giorgio will discuss the ways in which this dialogic and grass-root experience is at the basis of his vision for his MACRO Asilo project, beginning in October: an idea that transforms a central public cultural institution into a fluid space for the community to freely engage with art, build a sense of place and directly participate in the development of cultural activities. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A facilitated by Dr Malcolm Angelucci from the School of Languages and Linguistics, The University of Melbourne.