ARP 7ED – TALENTS EXCHANGE: co-existence, 2019 November 23rd, Satellite, Cape Town – Meet up the artists

Giulia Fumagalli and Alessio Barchitta from Italy, Viktoria Nianiou and Salvador Gomez from Spain, Zana Masombuka and Grace Molakapa from South Africa are the six young artists who have won the 7th edition of the ARP Project. On November 23rd they started co-existence, the first stage of collaboration at the end of their residency period in Cape Town.

co-existence is an exploratory journey of interpersonal, geographical, and collective experiences of identity. We all exist in close proximity, but often without being aware of each other’s individual and shared experience. We move in built and organic environments that evoke emotional responses – beyond our consciousness – the scenography of our daily life.

co-existence is not the sum of individuals, but the result of this addition.

co-existence means sharing and reflecting on our identity in terms of culture, heritage, gender, and environment. One of the questions the project poses is: how we can realize a co-existence without disavowing our individual cultural heritage.

This experiment will see three stages of travel, meetings, and research. Cape Town is the first. Granada and Rome will follow. (Alessandra Atti Di Sarro) 

The programme of international residencies organized by Centro Luigi Di Sarro, with the collaboration of Suburbia Contemporary Art (Granada), Satellite (Cape Town), and Rainbow Media NPO, is aimed at engaging young artists under 30 with geographical and interpersonal exchanges. ARP 7th Edition – Talents Exchange has been made possible thanks to the contribution of the MAECI-Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and to Media Aid Onlus and My Cape Town. The exchange programme between South Africa and Italy began in 2009 and since then more than twenty artists have travelled and worked between the two countries. 

The present edition, number seven, will take place in Cape Town, Granada, and Rome. In November and December 2019 the Talent Exchange will follow a new format: an itinerant route where each artist will have the opportunity to work on a research project in constant dialogue with the environment and the rest of the group. 

The participants have different stories and artistic background: Giulia Fumagalli and Alessio Barchitta come from Milan but Alessio was born in Sicily, Salvador Gomez comes from Barcelona whereas Viktoria Nianiou has studied in Spain but was born in Greece. Lastly, Grace Mokalapa and Zana Masombuka both live in Johannesburg.

The group will arrive in the Mother City on November 10th and will work at Satellite, a new space opened a few months ago by Jake Aikman in Woodstock.

“Jake Aikman is among the artists who had a residency in Italy through the exchange programme by Centro Luigi Di Sarro – says Alessandra Atti Di Sarro, the director of ARP – so this new collaboration makes us twice as proud. This year, ARP is targeting the Co-Create concept, we want to push young artists to get out of their comfort zone and exchange views, especially on the theme of identity, in all its complexities. ARP is not just a cultural bridge. The goal of the present edition, with the new itinerant formula between Europe and Africa, is trying to push Art and artists outside well-known boundaries, into unknown territories”.

Every city will host a Meet up Day to allow the six artists to present their research, put together a shared project and interact with different spaces and people. Next stage will be Granada, then the group will move to Rome.