Procida's former prison becomes museum with works by six international artists

Palazzo d'Avalos on Procida island, a former Bourbon royal palace and later a penal colony until 1988, has been transformed into an exhibition space for 'Sprigionarti', running from May 27 to December 31, 2022. The show is part of Procida Italian Capital of Culture 2022, curated by Agostino Riitano (director of Procida 2022) in collaboration with Vincenzo de Bellis, under the patronage of the Donnaregina Foundation for Contemporary Arts 2022. Six international artists—Maria Thereza Alves, Jan Fabre, William Kentridge, Alfredo Pirri, Francesco Arena, and Andrea Anastasio—present works in five former prison cells, some site-specific. The curatorial concept asks artists to imagine a relational perspective with the former penal colony, exploring new resonances between historical incarceration and modern openness.