Diamante, historical “city of murals” since 1981, when over eighty Italian and international artists were invited to paint the walls of the historic center, he consolidated his identity in the panorama of urban art. In the city of Cosentino, FAC has just ended, festival of arts and cultures promoted by Gulìa Urban In collaboration with the Municipality of Diamante and Osa – Operation Street Art, which for a week has transformed the city into a laboratory of public art, meeting and cultural design. The city has not limited itself to renewing its visual vocation, but has chosen to get involved as an active space for cultural production. A place where urban art is not only decoration, but becomes an instrument of relationship, comparison and vision on the future.
Five new street-art works signed by Italian and international artists have rewritten walls and perspectives. The Irish Acheswith the support of the Irish embassy in Italy, he addressed the theme of the Union among peoples, merging generations, memories and languages in his work. Slim Safont, From Spain, the traditional crafts and the transmission of manual knowledge told. The Madrid artist Marta Lapeña He built a poetic narrative of the territory, evoking identity symbols such as cedar. Italian Edoardo Ettorre, In collaboration with Formedil Cosenza, he dedicated his work to the issue of safety at work, strongly recalling the centrality of the body and dignity of those who work on construction sites. To complete the cycle of interventions will be, in July, the monumental work of Joyswhich will give life to an artistic playground in Largo Savonarola, designed as an inclusive and accessible public space.
Alongside the artistic interventions, FAC has proposed initiatives that involved citizens, visitors and cultural operators. Among the most significant moments, the twinning pact signed by the municipalities of Diamante and Santa Sofia d’Epiro, two realities united by a shared vision on public art as a social cohesion engine and local development. The meeting was accompanied by the parade of Arbëreshë groups and by an institutional conference at the DAC Museum. The week also saw the opening of a collective exhibition dedicated to Diamantese artists, with over twenty authors involved, as well as public talk on key themes such as art, training and security, guided tours among the works and musical moments released in the places of the Festival.