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2007 Summer

Venice Biennial Special: Palazzo delle Arti Napoli

PAN’s home, the Palazzo Roccella

Pan | Palazzo delle Arti Napoli, the Center for Contemporary Arts in Naples, is a co-sponsor and program partner with Art Radio WPS1.org for P.S.1’s 2007 Art Radio Venice Live broadcasts. Here is their story.

Pan | Palazzo delle Arti Napoli, opened in 2005, is a cultural hub for Italy with a Documentation Center and digital archive, a mediatheque, and a library. It has some 40,000 square feet of exhibition space. Located in the ancient Palazzo Roc­cella, built in the 17th century and recently renovated to meet international museum standards, PAN is situated in Naples’ most desirable district.

Naples, capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies before the foundation of Italy in 1860, was a cradle for phi­losophers and statesmen, and a creative center for arts and music. It was well known for its idyllic land­scape, rich popular culture, high quality of living, and ex­quisite cuisine.

Creativity has not faded away. On the contrary, con­temporary art in Naples is among the most fertile in Italy. Projects such as Art in Public Space, featuring underground stations with more than 250 contemporary art works, and the annual “temporary installations” in Piazza Plebiscito are unequalled in Italy. However, political developments of the last 150 years moved this Mediter­ranean center off the focal point of attention. As a result, Naples is better known for its social and political problems, for fights among its organized crime groups, pollution alerts, and drug dealing.

In this southern Italian city of harsh social contrasts, PAN’s goal is to reach out to audiences of all generations and social backgrounds. PAN’s “thematic group shows” revolve around a new motto every year. In 2007 it is “Sfide—Challenges” featuring three main shows: Heroes! Like us…?, Dangerous Beauty, and The Enterprise of Art.

Given Naples’ historical role, PAN is particularly interested in research and promotion regarding developments in the art world of the Mediterranean area. For Art Radio Venice Live at the 52nd Biennial, PAN | Palazzo delle Arti Napoli will present the “best of” audio files from its Documentation Center featuring sound works of artists from the Mediterranean, interviews, and audio from writ­ers, actors, and musicians, including popular culture. In a series of live shows, PAN will host artists, curators, critics, and intellectu­als from Mediterranean countries who enjoy few opportunities to present themselves at the Venice Biennial. The programs will outline the visions and issues that Na­ples shares with Sicily, the Balkans, Turkey, the Near East, and North African countries. One highlight will be the New Media selections which have challenged and enriched PAN’s Digital Documentation Center.