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The fourth edition of Sicily’s Baroque & Neo-Baroque Festival will open soon. Held in Ragusa Ibla, the lower center of the Sicilian city of Ragusa, the festival has been brought forward from September to May 31 – June 2. Its exhibits, sited in baroque buildings, will remain open to visitors through June 28.
With the event, architect Roberto Semprini and journalist Cristina Morozzi are continuing their quest to find new ways of reinterpreting the style of the baroque through design, painting, sculpture, photography, and fashion. And they’re doing it against the backdrop of Ragusa’s historic Palazzo Nicastro and Palazzo Cosentini (both UNESCO heritage sites), the former Church of San Vincenzo Ferreri, and the Antico Convento.
This three-day event dedicated to all things neo-baroque will feature projects by students from the fine arts academies of Brera, Catania, and Timisoara (Romania), students of the Dadi department of the Università della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, and emerging artists from Ragusa’s art high school. Companies specializing in design, local and otherwise, and Sicilian and international designers will also be showcasing their neo-baroque creations.
The festival will bring architect Nigel Coates, professor emeritus at the Royal Academy of London, to Sicily for the first time, with his project Ego and Narciso, on display on the main floor of Palazzo Cosentini.
This historic building will also host an exhibition by Milanese artist Dario Ghibaudo, who transforms mixed materials into sculptures with a neo-baroque aesthetic, and a photography exhibition by Barbara Vicari, with her unusual interpretations of the theme of immigration.
The Baroque Mirror exhibition, curated by festival artistic director Roberto Semprini in collaboration with Via Tov, will feature a collection of mirrors that reinterpret the style that made Val di Noto famous through a contemporary lens.
Designer Giuseppe Campailla is presenting B2B, a sofa interpreted through radical memory in motion, whose shape recalls the organic lines of the baroque decorations of Val di Noto. Its concave shape invites you to sit down and let yourself relax in complete freedom.
Another feature will be The King & the Queen, a scenographic installation sited at the entrance to the main floor of Palazzo Cosentini curated by Milanese architect Maurizio Favetta. The work will form the backdrop to a performance entitled Baroque Body Color Show by Caparol, created by Valeria Bonalume, a former Italian pole dancing champion.
Palazzo Nicastro will be brought to life with lighting effects created by Angelo Sanzone for his installation Analogic Light. As visitors step into the building’s entrance, they’ll be greeted by a large, steam-producing sofa with the apt name of Vulcano, a tribute to Etna created by Roberto Semprini for Giovannetti Collezioni. After her success at Salone del Mobile, Sara Ricciardi will be in Ragusa with her performance Under the Willow Tree, presented by Milan-based cultural network 5VIE at Castello di Donna Fugata.
A return to the event’s roots, the former church of San Vincenzo Ferreri will host a fashion show featuring the latest collection by Sicilian designer Alessandro Enriquez, who’ll also be curating a neo-baroque themed dinner in the Ibei Gardens in collaboration with the young managers of the Antico Convento.
Plus, there’ll be theater, concerts, conferences, and presentations featuring literary critic Salvatore Silvano Nigro, film critic and chancellor of IULM Gianni Canova, and others.
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Location: Ragusa, Italy
Dates: May, 31 to June, 2
Images courtesy of Festival Barocco & Neobarocco
