BHMF to enhance Afro-descendant communities and cultures

What does it mean to you to represent Italy in the artistic field? And in general, what are the values and characteristics that represent contemporary Italy?

Representing Italy means acknowledging its history of exchanges, moving borders and constituted mythologies, while at the same time becoming aware of the limits imposed by a historiographical canon founded almost exclusively on the celebration of greatness. Highlighting what has been overlooked in the processes of narrating history and constructing the canon is a necessary attitude for reflecting on the distancing of epistemologies that traverse the dense mesh of archives. In order to anchor contemporary Italy, we need to challenge the archive and the consolidated critical-artistic heritage, which from fixed structures become living, narratively present environments that concern everyone. We need a repositioning of permanence and matter as central elements of the history of monuments and the notion of preservation. To reread is not to erase, but to rework history and our relationship with it; this is fundamental in this moment and in our work.

Being the curator of a national pavilion is a commitment that involves many qualities: organisational skills, fundraising skills, being able to respond to criticism and external pressure. What are your strong points?

We built Black History Month Florence and The Recovery Plan from the ground up, cultivating and curating a community of artists, scholars, students and activists, and connecting with a plurality of cultural institutions in the area. This has meant facilitating processes of historical narrative and fostering a sense of solidarity and collective responsibility. This has been possible thanks to a core group of transnational fellows and professionals deeply embedded in the arts and culture, but also through the involvement of people from other fields, encouraged to develop new visions and trajectories. The community shapes us and supports us in everything.

 By the way of fundraising, the MiC's General Directorate for Contemporary Creativity in 2024 financed the PI with 800,000 euros, the rest was supported by private individuals. Do you already know the Ministry's figures for the next Italian Pavilion? For the presentation of the project you are already required to have the endorsement of potential sponsors, how is it going? Tell us...

Fundraising in the Italian cultural sector constantly presents challenges, particularly for bottom-up initiatives and the cultural sector in general. But through collective efforts and public-private partnerships, there is the capacity to transform the economy of a system that too often relies on a few voices. As a Florentine reality operating in dialogue with a vast national and international network, we have always found a way to build an incisive vision capable of meaningfully celebrating all the actors involved and, at the same time, of recalling the continuity of commitment that our sector urgently needs.