Futuro Arcaico Fest: Bari's First Festival of Italian Folklore in Contemporary Art

The first edition of Futuro Arcaico Fest, a multidisciplinary festival dedicated to Italian folklore reinterpreted through contemporary art, runs until July 11 in Bari. Founded by Marco Malasomma and Jime Ghirlandi (known as Folklore Elettrico) and curated by Maria Teresa Salvati, the festival features over 40 artists from across Italy working in photography, video, sound, illustration, mixed media, and installation. The event is organized as a diffused exhibition across indoor and outdoor spaces, including the Museo Civico and Museo Nuova Era, with works by NeuNau, Maria Vittoria Cavazzana, Michele Tajariol, and Ludovico Bomben. The festival is an evolution of the digital observatory Futuro Arcaico, an online archive of artistic testimonies on Italian places, rituals, and traditions. A call for artists on the theme "Radici" (Roots) drew 500 applicants, from which seven artists per category were selected. The festival is sponsored by the Comune di Bari and aims to reconnect with ritual, magic, and territorial identity as an antidote to postmodern individualism.