Opening: Sunday, June 29, 2025, at 6:30 pm, Piazza del Belvedere, Altidona (FM)
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Discover the map here
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Click here to download the invitation and press kit.
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Giuseppe Abate’s work stems from the dialogue he establishes with the local community during his residency. A chance conversation and an old black-and-white photograph—depicting a sculpture of a cockerel once placed at the entrance of the village and now lost—inspire the artist and shape his project: to return the cockerel to the town. Drawing on the local tradition of the fornaciai, artisans who worked clay to shape and fire the bricks used to build the village, the artist recreates the cockerel in the same material.
For the project's inauguration, he also produces water and wine jugs, contributing to a moment of shared conviviality that spontaneously turns into a village celebration, marking the symbolic return of the cockerel to the town’s walls.
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Artwork:
01. VGiuseppe Abate, Lu Gallu, 2025, terracotta, 60 x 30 x 60 cm.
Piazza del Belvedere, Altidona (FM)
The work is installed on the town walls.
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The terracotta jugs for water and wine, created by the artist for the opening celebration, are on display inside the Bar del Corso, along with several drawings that document the sculptural development of the project.
Bar del Corso, Via Dante, 4A, Altidona (FM)
Open daily, from 7:00 AM to 12:00 AM
Altidona (FM)
29.06.2025
Piazza del Belvedere
16:30
‘THERE USED TO BE A STATUE OF A ROOSTER THERE. THEN THEY TOOK IT DOWN’. OF ALL THE THINGS LUCA TOLD ME ABOUT ALTIDONA THAT EVENING, THE BRIEF STORY OF THE ROOSTER ON THE TOWN WALLS DIDN’T SEEM PARTICULARLY SIGNIFICANT.
YET IT IS FROM THIS MINOR STORY THAT THE PROJECT TAKES SHAPE.
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Giuseppe Abate (Bari, Italy, 1987) graduated in Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice in 2011 and earned an MA in Material Futures from Central Saint Martins – University of the Arts London (UK) in 2020.
His work has been exhibited in various institutions and art galleries such as: VOGA Art Project (Bari IT, 2024); Copperfield Gallery (London UK, 2023); Galleria Michela Rizzo (Venice IT, 2022); Cinema Galleggiante (Venice IT, 2022); Spazio Cabinet_Studiolo (Milan IT, 2020); ADA Project Gallery (Rome IT, 2019); Palazzo Barolo, (Turin IT, 2019); Assam State Museum (Guwahati IN, 2017); Museo Nazionale della Montagna (Turin IT, 2016); Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa (Venice IT, 2011; 2013; 2014; 2015); Rob Pruitt Flea Market c/o A + A Gallery (Venice IT, 2015); Museo di Arte Contemporanea Pino Pascali (Bari IT, 2012); Galleria Municipale d’Arte Contemporanea di Monfalcone (Monfalcone IT, 2011). In 2014 he won the one year residency program prize at Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice IT. Between 2016 and 2018 he has been invited to the Guwahati Research Program curated by Microclima Venice, Guwahati, Assam IN. In 2018 he was among the finalists at Premio Cairo, Milan IT. In 2023 he won the competition for the sculptural project of refurbishment of OGR Torino’s fountain, Turin IT; the same year, through the PAC and with the collaboration of MUVE, the tapestry 'Piroètte', collaboration with Giovanni Bonotto, became part of the permanent collection of Museo Fortuny, Venice, IT.
Altidona stands on a hill 224 meters above sea level, overlooking Valle dell’Aso, between the green hills of the Marche countryside and the blue of the Adriatic Sea. Its ancient name, Altum Dumum, of uncertain origin, suggests Latin roots enriched by various linguistic influences. The beauty of the landscape, with its changing colors among vineyards, wheat fields, sunflowers, woods, and Mediterranean scrub, has fostered the development of a village perfectly integrated with the natural environment.
At the end of the 19th century, Altidona became known for its brickmaking tradition. In 1890, Raffaele Bagalini founded a Hoffmann kiln in Marina di Altidona, launching an industry that transformed the village. The sector still provides jobs for many young kiln workers, contributing to the growth and development of the area. Every July, a popular festival celebrates this history, giving birth to the famous cookie Mattoncino del Fornaciaio.
In recent years, Altidona has received important recognitions: the “Bandiera Blu” (Blue Flag) in 2021, entry into the ComuniCiclabili network in 2022, and the “Rete dei Comuni Sostenibili”(Sustainable Municipalities Network in 2023, reinforcing its commitment to quality of life, sustainable mobility, and environmental, social, and cultural development.
Matilde Galletti is curator and professor of Contemporary Art at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts, Milan. She has trained and collaborated with the Gerardo Dottori Archives of Perugia, with the association a.titolo of Turin, with the magazine Titolo. She has studied visual poetry, working on the archive of Anna Oberto in Genoa and on the cataloguing of the archive of Arrigo Lora-Totino. Founder and curator of Karussell, a project that deals with spreading contemporary art in the southern Marche.
She runs the archive of the artist Mario Airò.
For Una Boccata d’Arte 2024, she curated the project of Caterina Morigi in San Ginesio (MC), Marche.