Matera 2019

Continuity and disruptions

They say that to pick oneself up takes courage, we believe that it takes shame. Shame that stimulates the consciousness, that mobilises pride and triggers a reaction. Shame as a formidable push that breaks down immobility and creates movement, questioning, awareness and, therefore, rebirth. A positive, redeeming, wonderfully tragic and cathartic shame: the most beautiful shame.

Each story must have a voice, and that of Matera 2019 comes clearly and strongly from the speakers of a radio.

The competition with Spotify and YouTube doesn’t matter much: maybe because of its slightly vintage touch, certainly for its ability to create guided routes between music and words and to look further into some matters, radio has been elected as the voice for the European Capital of Culture in 2019.

Lightness, Quickness, Exactitude, Visibility and Multiplicity. These are the values of Italo Calvino’s 'American Lectures' followed by Radio 3 in the Matera Lectures, with the original format in the hope of inspiring the audience to tune into a monthly broadcast throughout 2019 and warm the heart of the city.

In 2012, an area of Modena’s province was hit by a terrible earthquake that caused very serious damage to the city’s architectural and artistic heritage, as well as its industrial areas. With exceptional resilience, many areas were rebuilt in a very short time. After a few months, a delegation from Matera met many regional emigrants in Emilia and a dialogue began, resulting in a shared cultural programme and a memorandum of understanding between the two cities.

As part of Matera 2019 there will be a large photography exhibition inspired by the tenth anniversary of the earthquake that devastated the city of L’Aquila on 6 April 2009. The display aims to create a space to reflect on the difficulties of dealing with the earthquake’s after-effects throughout the whole country.

How many languages are spoken across the world? According to a recent study, seven thousand languages exist, even if most of them are at risk of extinction. However, there is a more profound and universal language, which crosses all geographic and cultural borders: music.

In order to communicate to a constantly multifaceted community, the town of Pomarico on its day as a Capital  organises a musical event by mixing traditions and different cultures in an inclusive concert representing a period of a specific community.

The life and activities of the bandit Angelantonio Masini, nicknamed Ciuccolo (Marsicovetere, 1837 – Padula, 20 December 1864), who “worked” in Basilicata, in Terra di Bari and Vallo di Diano will be the object of a theatre performance on the day of the event for “Matera 2019-Capital for a day”.

During the mid-fifties the American researcher Edward C. Banfield began his studies on Chiaromonte. A few years later he published a very successful book in the United States causing a number of debates in Italy, stemming from the book’s title 'The moral basis of a backward society'. Even though the name Chiaromonte was replaced with Montegrano, every reference was quite clear, including in the description of the locations and the people’s word.

'Here and together' will enliven Accettura by showing that values such as identity and migration can perfectly coexist.

The journey will start from the archaeological site of Tempa Cortaglia, where archaeology teachers and students will map out and analyse the area.