With XNL Aperto culture networks: the project grows with the city

Four editions and an increasingly more involved city. XNL Aperto, the weekend of extraordinary openings and events dedicated to contemporary art, which took place from 19 to 21 September, has now established itself as one of the central appointments of Piacenza's cultural scene. Roberto Reggi, president of the Fondazione di Piacenza e Vigevano, the organisation that launched the XNL Piacenza project and invested in the idea of the space as a large cultural workshop, emphasises how the initial investment was calibrated to the growth of the project "after a first year with limited resources, we increased our commitment for the second edition and have kept it constant ever since. But more than the event itself, it is the resulting network that has grown year after year'.
In fact, XNL Aperto is not just a September event, it is an aggregation process that brings together artists, galleries, institutions and cultural spaces. A weaving work that has allowed XNL Piacenza - officially born in 2020 - to become the city's reference point for contemporary art, with programmes dedicated to art, cinema, theatre and music. The Foundation's support is explained by the vitality of the network created "in recent years," explains the president, "exhibitions, collaborations, and shared projects have been born from XNL Aperto. I am thinking of the cycle that has brought together the historical collections of Piacenza's museums with contemporary artists, or the exhibition on Giovanni Fattori, organised with the Ricci Oddi Gallery and enriched by the presence of Elger Esser".

The project also gave rise to the Piacenza Culture Network, an institutional table that brings together local entities and subjects - from the Chamber of Commerce to the Municipality, from the Diocese to the Region - with the aim of strengthening the cultural offer and attracting new private partners. In 2025 alone, the Network has deployed EUR 2 million in public and private resources. While the event is still strongly tied to the territory, the cultural ferment has grown to the point that Piacenza is a candidate for European Capital of Culture 2033. A positive sign also comes from tourism. "We do not yet have a structured impact assessment," the president admits, "but the data on tourist arrivals is encouraging: +8% in the first half of 2025 compared to the previous year, one of the highest in Emilia-Romagna. And looking ahead, the prospects are ambitious. The experience of the former Consortia Cheese Warehouse, transformed into a contemporary art space in 2024, opens the way to new possibilities. 'Places like this,' he observes, 'have all the characteristics to host projects of national scope, perhaps in dialogue with Milan. The Foundation will continue to play its part: not to take its place, but to trigger processes and encourage their start-up'.

After the she-wolf, the bee and the horse, the 2025 edition of XNL Aperto's graphics, curated by the Propp studio since 2022, revolve around the Napoleonic eagle, the historical symbol of Piacenza (1796-1814) and icon of strength, vision and ambition, but also of oppression and domination. The emblem invites us to reflect on the relationship between ancient and contemporary and on the dialogue between public and private, a central theme also for the 2025 edition, which confirms XNL Aperto's commitment to connect art, architecture, historical memory and contemporaneity. XNL Piacenza inaugurated the autumn programme of the Art section, curated byPaola Nicolin with the presentation of the video-installation "Manifesto" by Julian Rosefeldt, in collaboration with Electa: a 13-channel work that pays homage to 20th-century art manifestos, between poetry and a break with the past, interpreted by Cate Blanchett. The packed calendar included exhibitions and widespread events: from Biffi Arte with the Curia Museums photographic exhibition, to Montrasio Arte with the works of Leonardo Cremonini; from Spazio BFT, with a project dedicated to Gabriele Basilico, to UNA Galleria, with new productions by Alfredo Aceto and Raphael Danke.Volumnia hosted a photographic project by Luca Piola and a performance by Fabrizio Favale, while the Masbedo studio and the Rathaus space opened their doors to visitors.

The award ceremony for the Ducato Prize was held at Palazzo Farnese. The winner of the Contemporary section (10,000 euros) was the artistYuyan Wang, born in China but living in Paris, filmmaker and video artist, with the video "Green Grey Black Brown", 2024, while the Academy section was won by the Lebanese artist Joyce Joumaa with the video "Untitled", 2025 (prize 1,000 euros).

Collaboration continued with the Shit Museum, which this year presented the site-specific work by Fabio Roncato in the waters of the Trebbia, while the Atelier Valerio Saltarelli Savi, Palazzo Zeni Fiorani, Spazio Rosso Tiziano and the William Xerra Archive also participated for the first time. It closed with a conversation at the Ricci Oddi Gallery with Mario Cucinella, an internationally renowned architect committed to the themes of sustainability and cultural design. Promoted by the Rete Cultura Piacenza - which brings together the Foundation of Piacenza and Vigevano, the Municipality, the Province, the Emilia-Romagna Region, the Chamber of Commerce and the Diocese - XNL Aperto thus confirms itself as an open and shared cultural workshop, capable of connecting the contemporary with the history and identity of Piacenza.