The event dedicated to the world of design and curated by the Academy of Fine Arts of the regional capital returns to Catanzaro: the Graphic Design Meetings, now in their second edition with the title “Visual coordinates – Graphics as a language of the present”. From 22 to 28 April 2026, the Academy of Fine Arts of Catanzaro transforms the city into an open-air laboratory of visual culture, hosting professionals, companies, students and enthusiasts in a dense and interdisciplinary program. After the success of the first edition – also celebrated on the pages of Grafica Magazine – the festival consolidates itself as a point of reference in the national graphic design panorama.
The inauguration and the opening talk
The event opens on Wednesday 22 April at 2.30 pm with the opening talk “Graphics as a language of the present”, at the Teatro della Sede Einaudi (via Tommaso Campanella, q.re Materdomini). The event is open to citizens and represents a moment of collective reflection on the social, cultural and ethical role of graphics in the contemporary world, between front journalism, public communication and territorial identity.
Guests and students’ exhibition
On stage three leading voices of Italian graphics:
* Stefano Cipolla, art director of L’Espresso and Grafica Magazine, among the most authoritative names in Italian editorial design;
* Enrica D’Aguanno, coordinator of the school of Artistic Planning for Business at the Academy of Fine Arts of Naples;
* Francesco Dondina, designer and curator of the Milano Graphic Festival, a point of reference for contemporary design at a European level.
Institutional greetings will be brought by the director of the Academy of Fine Arts of Catanzaro, Virgilio Piccari. The professor moderates. Luca Sivelli, coordinator of the Graphic Design Course of ABA Catanzaro. The event also marks the opening – in the same venue – of the exhibition of students’ works, concrete testimony to the creative talent that the Academy trains in the area.
The program of workshops and technical meetings
In the following days, the program is divided into an intense training course, reserved for enrolled students:
* On 23 and 24 April: Cipolla and Dondina lead the “Abecedario del contempo” workshop, an immersive laboratory of editorial experimentation that will produce a visual alphabet of 27 tables capable of describing the urgencies of our time.
* 27 April (3.00pm–5.00pm): space for Fedrigoni’s expertise with the talk “Packaging Experience 2026”, moderated by the teacher Chiara Del Luongo: a dialogue on the new frontiers of graphics linked to paper as a narrative medium.
* April 28 (10:00–11:30 am): opens with “The Talk” (open to the public), where The Calabreser and Ocular Lab talk about the design professions in Calabria through an original format. Moderated by the teacher Paolo Genoese.
* 28 April (afternoon): the workshop “Impossible collaborations – Citybrand Challenge” curated by Giuseppe Talarico (The Calabreser) explores how an element of the territory can transform into an icon capable of speaking to the world.
Final event and synergies with the territory
The festival ends on the afternoon of April 28 (5:00 pm – 7:00 pm) with the public presentation of the final results, open to all citizens. The director Virgilio Piccari, the president of the Gutenberg Calabria Foundation, Armando Vitale, and Giuseppe Talarico will speak on stage, with the moderation of Luca Sivelli.
The Gdm will also be an opportunity to present the collaboration between the Academy and the Gutenberg Calabria Foundation, a point of reference for the promotion of typographic culture. The visual identity of the 2026 edition was entirely created by the first year students of the two-year specialist course in Graphic Design, under the guidance of the team of teachers. An authentic design experience that will be officially presented to the city and the press at Spazio Due – Palazzo Fazzari.