La meraviglia TALKS

The image of artists sat in coffee shops talking about art, discussing and working together, is something that is intrinsic to the history of art. From the Paris of the Belle Epoque and impressionism to the Rome of the 1950s and 60s, there are numerous examples of artforms emerging from social movements. Words of Wonder at Manifattura Tabacchi aims to create these informal and convivial conditions and bring participants into this private and exclusive moment as the Artistic Residencies programme is opened up to a curious and observant public.

The Artistic Residencies, curated by Sergio Risaliti and supported by Manifattura Tabacchi, include a series of workshops and meetings where the six resident artists work together with various established artists and curators from the world of contemporary art, both at an Italian and International level. These encounters, which last two or three days, represent moments for sharing and learning, at the end of which little miracles are created through the collective creation of artworks.

Historically set up as an experience that combines and satisfies two different needs, one of community and the other of isolation, this year the Artistic Residency programme will be unveiled before the event of the final show, scheduled for March 2020, in little instalments throughout the semester.

At the end of the first day of each workshop, the artists and curators visiting Manifattura Tabacchi will share something about their own works and experiences, only this time it won’t be just with the artists in residence but also with the public as well. Each talk will represent a unique opportunity to discover up close, and to interact with, personalities from the national and international contemporary art scene. Videos, installations, performances, public artworks: each artist and curator will bring a little bit of their world to Manifattura Tabacchi, opening up discussions with artists who are in the process of training as well as with the wider public.

At the conclusion of each talk, the words will fall away to give space for the eye to communicate, with a visit to the extraordinary ateliers of Anna Dormio (Italy), Bekhbaatar Enkthur (Mongolia), Giulia Poppi (Italy), Esma Ilter (Turkey), Davide D’Amelio (Italy), Negar Sh (Iran) – the six artists in residence. This visit gives us a voyeuristic glimpse into a world of imagination concentrated into single rooms, which through their daily use by the artists become wunderkammern, rooms of wonder.

Everybody is invited to participate, workers, students, curators, artists, gallery owners and critics, but above all the wider public and people from the neighbourhoods that surround the Manifattura. Words of Wonder is presented in a way which is aimed at building relationships, bringing together individuals and worlds in the same space and time that would otherwise be distant, through an act that is as universal as going for a drink.

La meraviglia TALKS is brought to you in collaboration with l’Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze, forming a means of communication between institutions which have different functions but which are both involved in the training of young artists and how they speak to the wider art world.