About – Una Boccata d'Arte

UNA BOCCATA D’ARTE IS AN INVITATION TO WORK TOGETHER: EVERY YEAR IT INVOLVES 20 ARTISTS OF DIFFERENT NATIONALITIES, 20 ITALIAN MUNICIPALITIES AND 20 REGIONAL CURATORS TO CREATE 20 CONTEMPORARY ART PROJECTS IN DIALOGUE WITH THE LOCAL AREA

Una Boccata
d'Arte

20
artists

20
villages

20
regions

Una Boccata d’Arte is promoted by Fondazione Elpis in collaboration with Galleria Continua and with the participation of Threes. Established in 2020 during the pandemic, the initiative aimed to give a strong signal of encouragement at a time of great uncertainty by promoting encounters between contemporary art practices and places far off the well-known tourist track.

A project by

Fondazione Elpis

Founded in 2020 by Marina Nissim, entrepreneur and collector, Fondazione Elpis is dedicated to supporting young artists through a wide-ranging programme of exhibitions, residencies, talks, workshops, performances, and projects that are rooted and spread across the Italian territory. With the aim of exploring areas and contexts beyond the traditional circuits of contemporary art, Fondazione Elpis fosters dialogue between seemingly distant worlds, capturing the evolving nature of expressive languages.The foundation is based in Milan, in a former industrial laundry in the Porta Romana district – now a space devoted to artistic experimentation and research, promoting new models of participation and engagement for diverse audiences.Its identity is closely linked to Una Boccata d’Arte, a nationwide project launched in 2020 in collaboration with Maurizio Rigillo of Galleria Continua and with the participation of Threes. Each year, the initiative involves 20 artists in the creation of site-specific projects in 20 Italian villages – one per region – developed through direct encounters with local communities and places, enhancing the cultural heritage of the territory.

In collaboration with

Galleria Continua was founded in 1990, on the initiative of three friends, Mario Cristiani, Lorenzo Fiaschi and Maurizio Rigillo. The gallery’s first space was in a former cinema in the historically rich village of San Gimignano, Italy, and to date it has eight locations around the world. It is the first foreign gallery with an international program to open in Beijing, China in 2004, before opening in 2007 in Les Moulins, in the Parisian countryside. In 2015 it opened a space in Havana, Cuba, dedicated to organising cultural projects aimed at overcoming all borders. 2020, the gallery’s 30th anniversary year, was marked by the opening of a new exhibition venue in Rome with a calendar of educational activities and artist residencies, and a space in São Paulo, Brazil, inside the Pacaembu Stadium. In 2021, the gallery opened in Paris, in a location in the heart of the Marais, and in the same year, it welcomed an exhibition space inside the iconic hotel, the Burj Al Arab Jumeirah in Dubai.

With the participation of

Threes is a curatorial team and a creative agency based in Milan, specializing in experimental projects in the fields of music and art. Serving as a multidisciplinary platform, Threes engages in event production, curation, publishing, and record label activities. Driven by research and a commitment to challenging cultural paradigms, all of Threes' projects embody an ecological vision. Since the inaugural edition of Una Boccata d'Arte, Threes has been selecting artists and overseeing project development in three selected regions – for the 2024 edition, those are Abruzzo, Lazio, and Molise.