This summer I am not traveling and I also cancelled my usual trip back to Sicily. Each time I go I am always on the look for what’s new in the Sicilian contemporary art scene, this year I wanted to visit San Sebastiano Contemporary/Casa Bramante, an art gallery/cultural space that recently opened in Palazzolo Acreide (Syracuse), unfortunately the pandemic happened, but my visit is just postponed. I see in this interesting project the tangible expression of this movement towards the inland areas that in the last 60 years have been neglected in favor of the big cities. Rem Koolhaas, for example, made an exhibition at the Guggenheim in New York at the beginning of the year, called Countryside, The Future. In Italy, the poet Franco Arminio has dedicated all his work to the small villages, especially in the South, that are depopulated or even abandoned, with poetry of course but also with a festival and recently a TV show. So I decided to contact Davide Bramante, the founder of this ambitious and challenging project and asked him a few questions.
Opening an artistic space in Palazzolo Acreide it seemed to me as a strong statement. Bringing the vital lymph of contemporary arts in a place mostly known and visited for its beauty from the past is quite a paradigm shift. Can you tell us more about the genesis of this project, the challenges, and your expectations?
Palazzolo is mostly known for its food culture, for its Slow Food presidia, for the Sausage of Palazzolo, precisely. These first lines might seem as irreverent as a provocation but that’s what it is. In the last 30 years people who have come here were looking to eat well. Little by little the wisest, in the walk after the rich meal have begun to rediscover this ancient and wonderful village. Palazzolo has a thousand-year history. When I tell about this village to those who do not know it, I always begin by saying that when the Greeks arrived here, they built theaters. One of the most important of antiquity, in Syracuse, and one in Palazzolo as well. They knew how to choose places, and they did not choose a place because it was cool or trendy, as pioneers in these lands they felt the spiritual energy in such places. I have not Greek’s knowledge nor a tiniest bit of their strength or sensibility, but I felt that I could have invested all my energy, hopes, and dreams in Palazzolo. This place is magical to me, rich of encouraging cultural examples that slowly are being rediscovered: a great archaeological site and several museums, there was one piece missing, contemporary art. I hope I will live up to the challenge.
Who is Davide Bramante? A well-known photographer, of course, with the creation of this cultural space what defines you best? Art dealer? Gallerist? Cultural Agitator? Patron?
Davide Bramante is mainly an ultra of the arts. My vocation was always to be a photographer. Out of love, I bought art, supported my fellow artists friends, I have been a match-maker for artists and curators, artists and gallerists and now, with San Sebastiano Contemporary I give a space and welcome art and the artists I love the most.
Before coming back to Sicily, you lived abroad for quite some time (Turin, Rome, Milan, and NYC). I would like to know which place(s) has had the biggest impact on your work and what is your relationship with Syracuse, your hometown.
Yes, I lived, studied, worked and most of all learned so much in all those cities. My hometown is Syracuse but the city that introduced me in the art world was Turin. Turin, which is a beautiful city, in the beginning of the 90’s was pure magic. Then New York for two scholarships and several solo and collective exhibitions. Milan which I love today more than the past, Rome, and Bologna where I was a conscientious objector and where I met my biggest supporter. My work as a photographer is the outcome of the stratifications, architectural but that of the archaeological sedimentation that you can find in a city like Syracuse. But it is a love linked to the stories it tells rather than the contemporary world. I do not feel at home in Syracuse as opposed to Palazzolo or Turin. In Syracuse I feel more in a vacation, a place from which I have to leave and where I do not feel the need to work.
How is the territory responding to this project? I am talking about institutions, associations and enterprises, and the audience in general.
When I arrived in Palazzolo I wanted to introduce myself in the best way, but I guess I was as lucky as daring. I found the best location for this project, one of the most beautiful private palazzetto which I bought, restored, and gave back to the community in less than 18 months in all its art nouveau splendor and elegance. Once the works were completed, I wanted to give a party to inaugurate the space and not an exhibition, I invited all the citizen to show that the space is theirs too. The municipal authorities are supporting the external projects, mainly “Palazzolo Ospitale” (Palazzolo is Welcoming e.n.). The audience has been the best so far, Palazzolo is very close to other cities like Noto, Modica and Syracuse, moreover, many foreigners have houses in the countryside, and they have not missed none of the three summer events.
That San Sebastiano Contemporary – Casa Bramante was not simply an art gallery, for me it was clear from the idea of home that is in the name. Casa (home) is more than an exhibition space but a place of encounter and discussion. In fact, you just ended a series of talks called Palazzolo Ospitale. N° 0 Talks where the artists had the chance to discuss their work with the public. How much is it important the discursive dimension for your project?
San Sebastiano/Casa Bramante is a two stories gallery with a cave that we call “project room” and where we usually project videos or documentaries. We also have a office kitchen carved out of an old dammuso of white stone. In my experience the most important decisions are taken in the kitchen over a meal or a glass of wine, thanks to this I feel it like home, that is why Casa Bramante. Palazzolo Ospitale is both a collective exhibition and a series of talks, we held them in a former convent in the hearth of the village. I think that the talks have been the most interesting part because every evening the public had the chance to listen to an artist and a curator discussing their dreams and goals which makes the art world more accessible to those who wants to get closer insights on the methods and process of contemporary artists or as I called them contemporary dreamers. I cannot avoid to mention those who worked to make this event possible, Aldo Premoli as the curator and the cooperative MIB who effectively organized the event.
The timing of the opening of San Sebastiano Contemporary, unfortunately, was not the best because of the lockdown that came right after. You reopened with the exhibition Gli altri Siciliani. 8 fotografi+1 ingegnere (The Other Sicilians. 8 photographers + 1 engineer) curated by Aldo Premoli. You put together famous and less known photographers and quite different ways of making photography. Can you give us some insights on the curatorial choices?
The first exhibition of the season was dedicated to Mauro Benetti, an artist from Turin very well appreciated especially during the 90’s and curated by Francesco Lauretta who is a painter himself. We had to postpone it to December 27, we are going to use every surface and angle of the space. It is going to be amazing. So after the lock-down we opened an exhibition about 8 Sicilian photographers not all of them are art photographers (there are also reporters); Aldo Premoli, who curated the exhibition, wanted to give the audience a glimpse of the talented artists are living in the area and put them in the spotlight. When it comes to photography we always think about the usual 2/3 names (which are great) but the curator wanted to highlight the fact that there are other talents that, if given the chance, will be as successful as the others.
In your opinion, as a photographer and as a collector, how is the status of health of the Sicilian contemporary photography?
I think that Sicilian photographers are among the best in the international scene, Ferdinando Scianna, Letizia Battaglia, Shobha Battaglia, Turi Rapisarda Aldo Palazzolo, just to name a few. But as we say in Sicily cu nesci arrinesci (literally, if you go away you will make it) perhaps if these great names would have stayed in Sicily they would not have been as successful as they are. So, it is a long way and there is a lot of work to do. For instance, the young and brilliant Salvo Alibrio who realized the Dolce & Gabbana campaign is “obliged” to make wedding shooting for a living.
On August 7 you opened the exhibition Sono apparso alla mela di Cézanne (I appeared to Cézanne’s apple) by artists Lauretta and Presicce. Lauretta said that the exhibition was born from the necessity of marrying the other, it is about friendship, being open to the world to its lives and deaths. I find it a particularly important reason for making art and exhibiting it. Can you tell me your personal take on this exhibition?
I totally embrace the vision and that Francesco Lauretta explained. I have known Francesco for more than 35 years. We took the first steps together and moved to northern Italy together and for a while we shared a flat. Then I had to move because I was quite restless, so I gave him some space to work on his paintings with all the calm he required. I met Luigi [Presicce] recently but we have a common story behind, he left for the north to realize is artistic project and he got the recognition he deserved.
What’s in the future of San Sebastiano Contemporary? Ideas, projects, dreams.
The future projects are quite ambitious, and these places deserve it. When you work in the cultural field in a land with such history and beauty coming from the past, you are not allowed to have small dreams or futile expectations. We do not know if we are going to make it, but the most important thing is to create a space and hospitality for artists coming from everywhere. We are turning our attention to northern Europe, Baltic countries, Finland, Sweden, and Denmark. Next October, the Latvian government should send the three winners of the Riga Quadrennial (we will see how things will go with the pandemic). We want to give way to the young talents; we aim to make Palazzolo a fundamental step of growth for the new artistic generations.
UNcontemporary Art 