What is art if not an exploration of the collective imaginary to create a new vision? Pushing the boundaries of the tangible, The Grand Italian Vision: The Farnesina Collection is an exhibition of Italian Art curated by Achille Bonito Oliva which features selected artworks from the Farnesina collection of contemporary Italian art housed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome. The seminar The Grand Italian Vision and the Making of the Farnesina Collection. Contemporary Art as a Bridge to the Future will address the function of cultural diplomacy, the versatile vitality of Italian creativity, and foundational role of art in strengthening ties among people and cultures.

The event is organized by the Embassy of Italy in Singapore in collaboration with NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore and it is supported by National Arts Council and ASEF_Asia-EuropeFoundation

Welcome Speeches:

Mario Andrea Vattani, Ambassador of Italy in Singapore

Ute Meta Bauer, Founding Director, NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore and Professor, School of Art, Design and Media, NTU

Speakers:

Achille Bonito Oliva, Art critic and Curator

Umberto Vattani, Ambassador Emeritus*, President of Venice International University and founder of the Farnesina Collection of Contemporary Art [TBC]

Moderated by Dr. Anna Lovecchio, Assistant Director, Programmes, NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore

AMBASSADOR UMBERTO VATTANI

President of Venice International University and Founder of the Farnesina Collection of Contemporary Art

Ambassador Umberto Vattani is the President of Venice International University since 2001. As an Italian diplomat, he had a distinguished career holding a number of significant positions in representing the Republic of Italy abroad. During his engagement at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vattani revolutionised the public image of the Ministry and made it a symbol of contemporary Italy. Most notably, he spearheaded efforts to include works by living artists into the Farnesina Collection. Nowadays, Vattani is committed to present Italian culture to other countries and to strengthen ties among different cultures through contemporary art.

MARIO ANDREA VATTANI

Ambassador of Italy to Singapore and Brunei Darussalam

Mario Andrea Vattani is the Ambassador of Italy to Singapore since September 2021. Previously, Vattani served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Coordinator for EU-Asia Pacific. He promoted several initiatives in an effort to bridge Italian and Southeast Asian cultures. Vattani considers the presentation of The Grand Italian Vision in Singapore a strategic endeavour to foster cultural sharing between the two countries, with the City State of Singapore also serving as a gateway to the rest of Asia.

ACHILLE BONITO OLIVA

Curator and art critic

Achille Bonito Oliva is a renowned Italian art critic and a historian of contemporary art. He is most notably known for his extensive repertoire of writings and critiques on contemporary culture. Other than being a professor of History of Contemporary Art at the University of Rome, La Sapienza, he curated several events and thematic exhibitions across the globe, including the 45th Venice Biennale (1993), the 3rd Dakar Biennale (1998), the 1st Valencia Biennale (2001). For him, The Farnesina Collection conveys the cultural depth and richness of Italian art, bearing witness to the remarkable creativity that pervades Italian art.

Prof. UTE META BAUER

Founding Director, NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore

Ute Meta Bauer is the Founding Director of NTU CCA Singapore, and Professor at the School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University. For more than three decades, Bauer is a curator/co-curator of exhibitions and presentations, connecting contemporary art, film, video, and sound through transdisciplinary formats including 17th Istanbul Biennial (2022), the US Pavilion for the 56th Venice Biennale (2015) featuring eminent artist Joan Jonas, documenta11 (2002), and the 3rd Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art (2004) amongst many others. Recent co-edited books include Climates.Habitats.Envitorments (NTU CCA Singapore and The MIT Press, 2022), The Impossibility of Mapping (Urban Asia) (NTU CCA Singapore/World Scientific Publishing, 2020) and Place.Labour.Capital. (NTU CCA Singapore/Mousse Publishing, 2018).

DR ANNA LOVECCHIO

Assistant Director, Programmes, NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore

Dr Anna Lovecchio is a curator and art historian based in Singapore. She is currently Assistant Director, Programmes at NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore. From 2016 to 2021, she was Curator of the Residencies Programme at NTU CCA Singapore, an international platform that places a distinct emphasis on the process of artistic research. At the Centre, she has also curated exhibitions such as Hoo Fan Chon, Citra Sasmita, Vuth Lyno: New Works (2023), Free Jazz IV: Geomancers (2022) with Magdalena Magiera, The Making of an Institution (2017) with Ute Meta Bauer and Anca Rujoiu, and many other projects. Previously, she was Junior Curator at Villa Croce Museum of Contemporary Art in Genoa, Italy. She holds a PhD in contemporary art from the University of Bologna, Italy, and an MA in Contemporary Art and Museum Studies from Tufts University, Boston, United States.