#welcome #cohabitation #encounter
Six great artists interpret the founding principles of Matera: welcome, cohabitation and encounter, with permanent installations in the city’s hotels, in celebration of Neighbourhood.

Matera Alberga – Welcoming Art is back, on 18th January from 11.00 to 21.00, on the eve of the Matera 2019 opening ceremony. From this date Dimore dell’Idris will host the work La fonte del tempo (The Source of Time) by Dario Carmentano (Matera, 1960) curated by Christian Caliandro, while the Locanda San Martino will display Rapporti (Relationships) by Filippo Riniolo (Desio, 1986), curated by Francesco Cascino; Corte San Pietro will host a work by Alfredo Pirri (Cosenza, 1957), with the title IDRA Istituto Di Ricerca Anime (IDRA Soul Search Institute), which visitors have had a chance to experience since 22nd December 2018.
These works, like all the projects of Matera Alberga, will have a strong participatory dimension, inviting visitors to make direct contact with them. They will be installed on permanent display in the hotels. In Matera 2019, six hotels in the city, which evoke the old Neighbourhoods of the Sassi, will be transformed into places of welcome and creative experience, spaces for cultural production, and opportunities for social and cultural encounters between local people and visitors.

On 18th January, Dario Carmentano will meet the public at 18.00, as will Filippo Riniolo at 19.00, and Alfredo Pirri at 20.00, to consider and talk about their works (the meetings will be held in the hotels where their works are displayed). The curators of their works will also be present. Matera Alberga is a project for Matera European Capital of Culture 2019, produced by the Matera-Basilicata 2019 Foundation, designed and curated by Francesco Cascino, Art Consultant, Founder and Artistic Director of Arteprima, and Christian Caliandro, in partnership with CAM (Consortium of Matera’s Hotels) and with the support of the Carical Foundation.
With Matera Alberga the hotels that have brought the Neighbourhoods back to life (ancient community housing types) become workshops for art and interactive installations, encouraging contemplation of the relationship between art and architecture, and between harmony and community spirit. The works are designed by important contemporary artists in collaboration with the hoteliers who have regenerated the Sassi Neighbourhoods, and are produced by local craftsmen. The idea is based on the three pillars that identify the city and its inhabitants but mainly on the Sassi and the people who built them thousands of years ago: cohabitation, welcome, encounter. Seen in this light, the works become 'a mechanism that brings together local people and visitors, a physical space where people meet and the focal point for returning to a culture of diversity, which is the source of all evolution', curator Francesco Cascino explains.
The programme of Matera Alberga from 23rd February is as follows: Hotel del Campo invites visitors to view work by Giuseppe Stampone (Cluses, 1974); from 16th March at Sextantio Le Grotte della Civita the work of Georgina Starr (1968, Leeds) will be on display; and from 20th April (date to be confirmed) at Casa Diva there will be an opportunity to experience art by Salvatore Arancio (Catania, 1974).
This connection between hotels, restaurants, meeting places and cultural sites is typical of the city: the Sassi, evacuated in the Fifties, is now one of the most desirable places, not for its lost identity, but because it is able to paint a harmonious and welcoming picture of country life, making people reflect on natural evolution. So it is a very emotional experience for anyone spending a few nights in Matera, who are curious about the past and feel nostalgia for it in the present. This is how Matera Alberga came into being, which is a constructive attempt to capture thousands of years of habitation and living together through the power of contemporary art, by understanding the past and making it relevant today, to a city like Matera, which is the third most popular UNESCO site, one of Lonely Planet’s top places in 2018 and the third most innovative, according to the New York Times.
The Matera Alberga project also benefits from the participatory events Art Thinking and Art Walking, curated by Francesco Cascino and Dario Carmentano.

Art Thinking consists of indoor workshops on art and emotional intelligence, analysing the phenomena and practices of contemporary art with the aim of promoting a new awareness of art, seen as an activity inherent in every one of us. Every month, starting from the installations created by the artists with the help of the hoteliers involved in the project, Matera Alberga engages with people and invites everyone, residents of Matera and temporary citizens alike, to take part in these workshops which reflect on art.

Art Walking is a way of exploring the local area through art, reflecting on the themes of welcome, cohabitation and encounter, and the spirit of harmony and community that these places can generate through art. With Matera Alberga, starting from the hotels involved in the project, visitors will be able to take part in Sunday walks (on the Sunday after the opening of each installation) to explore through art and learn more about Matera, La Murgia and the Archaeological Park.

Information on all the Art Thinking and Art Walking events will be posted on the Matera-Basilicata 2019 Foundation website and the event’s social networks.

Programme:

18th January 2019 from 11.00 to 21.00 – Dimore dell’Idris – Artist: Dario Carmentano (meeting with the artist at 18.00)
18th January 2019 from 11.00 to 21.00 – Locanda San Martino – Artist: Filippo Riniolo (meeting with the artist at 19.00)
18th January 2019 from 11.00 to 21.00 – Corte San Pietro – Artist: Alfredo Pirri (meeting with the artist at 20.00)

23rd February 2019 from 11.00 to 21.00 – Hotel del Campo – Artist: Giuseppe Stampone (meeting with the artist at 19.00)
16th March 2019 from 11.00 to 21.00 – Sextantio Le Grotte della Civita– Artist: Georgina Starr (meeting with the artist at 19.00)
20th April 2019 from 11.00 to 21.00 – Casa Diva – Artist: Salvatore Arancio (meeting with the artist at 19.00)

You are all invited to interact with the works. Every day.

Website: https://www.matera-basilicata2019.it/, www.arteprima.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/materaalberga/

Hashtag: #materaalberga #matera2019 #openfuture

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