Creating museums to curate territories
The festival E.P.ART is a project promoted by Ecomuseo Casilino that was created to trigger processes of widespread musealization in the eastern suburbs of Rome through the creation of new works of Street Art. The project is the winner of the Public Notice Estate Romana 2020 – 2021 – 2022, it is part of ROMARAMA 2020 the cultural program promoted by Roma Capitale, it is made in collaboration with SIAE and it is sponsored by the Municipality of Rome V. The project will be developed for three years (from 2020 to 2022) on different districts of the 5th municipality.
In 2020 the project will realize 2 wall art works in Villa Gordiani, in the Municipality of Rome V, with the curatorship of Wunderkammern Gallery, one of the most important Street Art galleries in Europe. Author of the works will be Tellas, an artist of international importance who was selected by the citizens of Villa Gordiani in a shortlist of names proposed by the gallery.
“We can say that Tellas, more than “chosen”, has been welcomed by the care committee of the neighborhood. The artists proposed by Wunderkammern were all exceptional, but the name of the Sardinian artist stood out for its natural assonance with the project idea that was maturing”, explains Claudio Gnessi, President of the Casilino Ecomuseum.
In addition to the preference on the artist, the care committee – formed through a public call by residents of the neighborhood – is involved for the entire period of execution of the project, in coordination with the Casilino Ecomuseum. In this way, citizens are not passive receivers of the decisions of others, but co-protagonists in the curatorship of the works that will remain in the area.
“From the first meetings and explorations with the inhabitants, the theme of the margin emerged strongly” – continues Claudio Gnessi. “Since the Villa Gordiani neighborhood is a sort of “urban island” suspended between the green of the Archaeological Park and that of the future Linear Park of East Rome, structuring a reflection on the relationship between urban and non-urban, has become a prerequisite of the artistic project. And in this sense the artistic research of Tellas seemed to all the most appropriate to interpret this extraordinary hybrid peculiarity”.
The activity of dialogue and collective reflection will continue through the assemblies of the care committee (held in September, October, November and also planned for December), in order to develop an artistic project shared by all actors that will be substantiated in the production of the two works provided by the project. This intense work of mediation and co-design, is part of the overall framework of the E.P.ART project, which is a process oriented to the strengthening of local heritage, but especially aimed at developing the skills of local communities in the activities of preservation and enhancement. For this reason, in addition to the assemblies of care, citizens were involved in the narration of their neighborhood during the guided tours of last October 11 (Villa Gordiani and Via Prenestina), October 18 (Linear Park Roma Est) and November 8 (On the streets of Villa Gordiani). A narrative and an involvement that will continue in December, with visits scheduled for the 5th (Street Art in Villa Gordiani) and 19th (Villa Gordiani and via Prenestina).
The realization of the works, therefore, is the trigger that allows the founding of new community museums, which have collectively defined guidelines and are directly managed by local communities. As Claudio Gnessi clarifies “Like all the actions of the Casilino Ecomuseum, E.P.ART is a collective project inspired by the Faro Convention. As such, it provides for the participation in all project phases of the local community, so that it is they who take care of the preservation, enhancement and management of the cultural heritage of the area.”
Tellas will be engaged in the creation of the work and in residence from November 25 to December 5.
Information
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Website: ecomusecasilino.it/epart