Talk

Today’s art system and the art market itself demand specific skills from artists. These go beyond academic training to include an understanding of the system and, more importantly, the ability to navigate it without being swallowed up by some of its mechanisms. Being skilled also means knowing how to operate on the international stage. Artists need the skills to compete, especially given the substantial investment some countries make in promoting their own artists.

A relatively new landscape is therefore emerging, one that is constantly evolving.

We will discuss these issues with experts working within the art system, who bring different perspectives, particularly those shaped by their experience in the public and private sectors.

An interdisciplinary conversation about Corrado Cagli’s sculpture, beginning with the role of matter in the process of constructing an image. The choice and treatment of materials, from cardboard to its various translations into metal, respond not only to technical requirements but also help define the work’s formal and symbolic character. The transition from the fragility and impermanence of cardboard to the permanence of metal constitutes a genuine transmutation of matter, preserving traces of the original process while renewing its meaning. This transformation finds particularly significant expression in the Masks and Portraits, where the face moves beyond the simple representation of an individual to become a presence, opening Cagli’s research to the anthropological and ritual dimensions of the image. The talk will thus bring together sculptural technique, philosophical reflection on matter and symbolic interpretations of form.

It seems to be a slow but inexorable decline: Italian artists are increasingly absent from major international events. What is behind a phenomenon that risks effectively erasing them from the global stage? Do the artists themselves lack appeal? Is institutional investment in their careers insufficient? Are there shortcomings in how Italy communicates and manages its cultural resources? Clearly, something is not working. This has been especially evident in what might be called an annus horribilis for Italian culture and communications: just one artist at the Venice Biennale (an Italian citizen of non-Italian origin), no Italian films at the latest Locarno and Cannes film festivals, and, to top it all off, Italy’s exclusion from the FIFA World Cup.

We will discuss these questions with speakers from different professional backgrounds.

This talk presents ALVÈUS BOX, a collective project conceived by Alice Schivardi and Emiliano Zucchini and curated by Alessia Simonetti. It brings together 14 artists working in 12 independent and artist-run spaces across Rome, Naples, Perugia, Turin and Venice.

The discussion will explore the role of independent spaces as sites of research, production and experimentation, capable of fostering collaborative networks, supporting artistic practices and generating new forms of connection. It will focus on the 12 participating organisations, founded between 2006 and 2026, and the artists involved, offering an informed view of today’s independent art scene, the project’s future prospects and the dialogue between self-managed spaces and cultural institutions.

Among its initiatives, Alvèus highlights a limited edition of 50 boxes created by Gian Marco Saletti, each containing 14 numbered and signed artists’ multiples. These are intended to open channels of dialogue and exchange with national and international museum archives and collections through targeted institutional donations.

Watch a performance, then listen to the artist. Discover why they made that particular choice, even if it may initially seem strange or incomprehensible.

Hearing artists speak firsthand about their work is a privilege and a gift that only contemporary art can offer, because contemporary art allows us to engage directly with living artists. Being there, in front of and immersed in their work, is therefore the best way to approach art and break through the veil of mistrust, or sometimes apprehension, that surrounds its most innovative forms of expression, such as performance art.

This is the special opportunity that Roma Arte in Nuvola offers its visitors.

On Sunday afternoon, as this year’s extensive performance programme draws to a close, visitors will be able to hear directly from the participating artists about the reasons behind their choices, the meaning of particular gestures and the significance of their actions.