18 Italian academies launch C.O.M. network for diffuse public art

The Accademia di Belle Arti di Carrara leads a network of 18 Italian academies, conservatories, and universities in the project COM.unità dell'Arte Diffusa (C.O.M., acronym for City Open Museum), funded by PNRR. The initiative aims to bring art outside museums into public and institutional spaces through exhibitions, installations, performances, concerts, workshops, and meetings, integrating visual arts, design, theater, dance, music, cinema, new technologies, and media art. Artistic director Angelo Capasso, critic and professor at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Carrara, emphasizes creating events that generate audiences and activate communities by combining didactic models from all participating institutions. Specific events include the exploratory walk 'Non solo marmo' in Carrara with student participation; the music-and-image performance 'City Scoring' across Venice, Perugia, and Florence; a video art festival at the Cantiere Museo del Mare organized by the Accademia di Bari; and the 'Extra Bold' festival of visual experimentation and live media art in La Spezia on February 10. All events are free, promoting a slow, participatory cultural tourism model. The project fosters shared workshops, creative residencies, inter-institutional exchanges, and international collaborations, transforming artistic education into a mobile, comparative professional growth experience.