Dadada Beach Museum Opens on Calabrian Coast

The Dadada Beach Museum, a new exhibition space on the beach of Montauro in Calabria, Italy, opened on August 5, 2018. Located at the Dadada Beach Village on the Costa dei Saraceni, the museum was founded by owner Roberto Tallarico and features site-specific works by Calabrian artist Mario Loprete. Loprete embedded found objects—mattresses, t-shirts, towels—collected from the beach into cement, creating sculptures he describes as "modern archaeology." The museum aims to be inclusive, with installations spreading across the entire lido to the water's edge. The inaugural exhibition will remain until next year and then move to the Museo Marca in Catanzaro during winter. Future plans include inviting a new artist annually to add works, possibly working with iron. The opening was attended by art critic Vittorio Sgarbi and local TV stations. This museum adds to Calabria's growing contemporary art scene, which includes residencies like BoCs Art in Cosenza curated by Giacinto Di Pietrantonio, Officine del Carmine in Corigliano Calabro directed by Chiara Argentino and Piero Gagliardi, the Crossing Belmonte workshop in Belmonte Calabro led by architecture collective Orizzontale, and the Altrove festival celebrating its fifth anniversary with a show at Museo Marca.