Symposium Presenting the Upcoming Palermo Pavilion
Symposium: Alienos nutrit: The Internationalization of Sicilian Culture
9th Shanghai Biennale
Time: July 26th 2012, 6:00 pm
Location: University of Studies of Palermo
Sala delle Capriate – Palazzo Chiaramonte Steri
Piazza Marina
On the occasion of the invitation of the city of Palermo to participate in the 9th Shanghai Biennial from October 1st 2012 to March 31st 2013, within the frame of the City Pavillions, a section of the Shanghai Biennial, Laura Barreca (Arthub Med) and Davide Quadrio (Arthub Asia) will curate the group show Palermo Felicissima. The pavilion will be held at the new Museum of Contemporary Art of Shanghai, at the University of Palermo. This will be done in collaboration with the Chair of Urban Planning, Professor Maurizio Carta, who will host a symposium on the internationalization of Sicilian culture.
Today, Palermo is considered the so-called “door to Europe.” It is an obligatory route for migration movements from the Southern side of the world to Europe—an issue previously discussed at the symposium, The Mediterranean-Door to Europe, held in Palermo in 2010. As a geographical hub, alongside 30 other cities invited to the Biennial, Palermo will present the geo-political dynamics and the developments of our contemporary world, within the frame of one of the major megalopolis of the East.
Through the strategic methods of diffusion related to art and culture, it is now an unavoidable necessity once again to place Sicily, like it’s millennial history, as an international resource and reference point in the Mediterranean, as a junction between the West and the East. There is an ongoing gradual rethinking of the instruments and the politics of valorisation and development linked to local resources and to their internationalization.
Art is the instrument of cultural promotion and binder between the different cultures of the world. For ages, Palermo has been representing the blending of cultures, the koinè of the populations that have crossed it. The title of the symposium refers to the phrase inscribed on the statue of the Genius of Palermo, “Alienos Nutrit Seipsum Devorat,” which represents the virtues of the city and of the artistic geniuses of Sicily’s capital—a place that receives and nourishes itself from the diversity of the other.
Local culture produces external effects on the productivity of material goods, the service industry and the international cultural and economic competition, and it also represents a fundamental asset for international competitiveness. In this frame, the theme of the internationalization of Sicilian culture marks the overcoming of the traditional concept of local culture and supports the economic potential now linked to tourism: the promotion of historical and contemporary heritage favors a new course for international collaborations.
The symposium is part of the Univer Città 2012 program.
Moderator: Dr. Laura Barreca, Curator of City Pavilion-Palermo and Research Granter at University of Palermo
Speakers:
Roberto Lagalla, Rector of the University of Palermo
Mons. Domenico Mogavero, Bishop of the Diocese of Mazara del Vallo
Professor Maurizio Carta, Professor at the University of Palermo
Avv. Francesco Attaguile, General Director, Dipartimento Regionale degli Affari Extraregionali, Regione Siciliana
Matteo Caroli, Professor at the LUISS University, Rome
Dott. Davide Quadrio, Director of Arthub Asia, Project Leader of City Pavilion, 9th Shanghai Biennial and Fudan University, SIVA, Shanghai
Ing. Nino Bevilacqua, Professor at the University of Palermo and President of the Palermo Port Authority
Dott. Enrico Fardella, Professor at the University of Beijing
Thanks to: ELENKA S.p.A. and Assovini
