Mar. 7 – The Italian Cultural Institute in Addis Ababa started a program in 2013 for artist residencies that will allow Italian artists to exhibit and compose their works in Ethiopia, particularly in Addis Ababa. The first artist invited from now until May 10, is Gea Casolaro, 48 year old from Rome who has done work on imaginary places strongly linked to city characteristics (Buenos Aires, Sarajevo, Paris). The project was also developed in collaboration with the Alle School of Fine Arts and Design at the University of Addis Ababa, in the context of international trade. Casolaro will carry out a workshop with the last year’s students, the results of which will be displayed in the final exhibition in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Addis Ababa. The idea of planning a series of Italian born artists’ residencies in Addis Ababa, as explained by the Institute, arose from the complexity and elusiveness of the city’s social reality, especially when compared with the simplified and stereotyped image of it in Europe and in Italy. To allow an artist to observe, interpret and enter into a relationship and dialogue with the urban reality of Addis Ababa is a way to get a new perspective, liberated from stereotypes and capable of reflecting the strong poetic projection towards the future that, despite the disordered forms and convulse, is the fundamental trait of Africa today.
