Three politically engaged summer exhibitions in Sicily tackle migration, ecology, and hospitality

Three artists—Giuseppe La Spada, Fabio Viale, and Giuseppe Agnello—present politically engaged works in Sicily this late summer, addressing migration, hospitality, and ecology. La Spada's site-specific installation 'Fluctus' at the Duomo antico of Castello di Milazzo (Mish Mash Festival) features a large black plastic wave symbolizing a polluted sea and the rift between humanity and nature. It runs until September 2, 2018. On August 23, 2018, at 12:30, Viale will perform 'In Mare la Pietà' at Lampedusa's port, placing a 1:1 replica of Michelangelo's Pietà (the Mother without Christ) on a fishing boat moored near the Coast Guard, facing the sea as a gesture of welcome. This work follows his earlier 'Souvenir Pietà (Madre)' (2018) and 'Lucky Ehi' (2018). On August 28, 2018, Giuseppe Agnello's exhibition 'Arcadio/Terre in moto' opens at the Parco Archeologico di Naxos in Giardini Naxos, curated by Alessandro Pinto. The show features 15 site-specific sculptures that explore the trauma of ancient Greek colonization (734 BCE) and the experience of exiles making a new home. Agnello uses earth, buds, grain, human figures, and marshes to evoke sensations of displacement and settlement. The exhibition runs from August 27 to November 4, 2018. All three projects are set in Sicily, a historic Mediterranean crossroads, and coincide with Manifesta in Palermo, amplifying sociopolitical discourse.