Sussulti: public art project in Palomonte, Campania, seeks artists for post-earthquake regeneration

The municipality of Palomonte, in the province of Salerno, Italy, has launched 'Sussulti. Storie di terra e umanità', a public art project aimed at transforming the town's empty spaces and non-places inherited from the post-1980 Irpinia earthquake reconstruction. From June 3 to 9, 2019, five selected artists will be in residence, creating permanent works in five public spaces chosen with citizen involvement. The project is co-financed by the Campania Region as part of 'Events for tourism promotion and territorial enhancement'. Organizers emphasize this is not a graffiti event but a broad public art initiative. Artists will be asked to leave five permanent traces of the interaction between art and public spaces. The project draws inspiration from successful urban regeneration models like Farm Cultural Park in Sicily, aiming to make Palomonte a national tourist destination by healing earthquake wounds through art. Citizens will help identify sites for artistic intervention and select memory elements from autobiographical diaries of Italians affected by 20th-century earthquakes. A jury of curators and professors Fabiola Naldi and Claudio Musso will select the artists. Each selected artist receives €800 for participation and artwork realization. The project is technically supported by Kilowatt's Gaspare Caliri, who stresses the need to unite memory and new art languages with citizen involvement.