New sharing trajectories, from Matera to Padova and Madrid

Fusion Art Center

New sharing trajectories, from Matera to Padova and Madrid

It was the last days of January but in Matera the climate was already mild. Fusion Art Center, an organization that I represent, together with other cultural and artistic realities from nine countries in Europe, was at the first ICCI Project meeting organized by Matera Hub through the European Creative Europe program, to discuss and develop new operational models in the internationalization of the cultural enterprise. An experience that has allowed us to get to know each other closely and discuss ourselves on common issues, shared problems and new possibilities for international collaboration.

Fusion Art Center is a cultural association that develops projects related to artistic research and curatorial practice through exhibitions and training, along with projects for the development of connections between art and non-artistic contexts such as business, social, innovation. Our headquarters is Neo, a shared space for research and artistic production, which we have opened to lay the foundations of our cultural enterprise.

What I feel as fundamental for the development of my organization is the reflection on how to positively affect the territory and create a dialogue with the social and cultural fabric of the city, with its changes and needs, through the artistic languages we deal with.
To do this locally it’s necessary to create networks that works, not only between independent organizations, but with institutions and municipalities.

If we move the lens into a global dimension, the mechanism is the same, the distances and specific competencies changes, but the themes (and problems) of the relationship between cultural organizations and the territory are the same. What changes are the strategies and that is why the exchange and sharing between operators and professionals in the cultural sector of different countries are essential.

Starting form this, I would like to talk about the meeting in Matera with Elvira Rilova, a Spanish curator who lives and works in Madrid and Mexico, who has been working for years as well as exhibition projects, including training for artists and curators with the project “Acelerador de artistas “. Italy and Spain are not so different countries and in fact in our comparison many common themes have emerged. The interest and the sympathy were therefore reciprocal and with this also the possibilities to exchange skills and experiences. At that time I was working on the creation of a series of meetings for
emerging artists and curators and immediately the idea was born to put together forces to bring Elvira’s experience in Italy, in our center.

A few months after I invite her to come in Padua to hold the first masterclass for artists and curators as guest curator, and it was a success. We set up the work by following his method, and then we held the workshop together for the many people registered. It was an opportunity to compare our approaches and for me to learn a lot from his longest experience.

In 2019 our collaboration will continue with other projects that were born in the beautiful days when Elvira was in Padua and we had the opportunity to talk about future collaborations. I have also been invited to take care of a part of the Artist Book Fair that is organized by her every year in Castilla and León and this for me is a chance to make my work more global and inspired.