Trento's Tri-Museum Exhibition Explores Shamanism Across Time and Space

The exhibition 'Sciamani. Comunicare con l’invisibile' runs until July 21, 2024, across multiple venues in Trento, Italy. For the first time, three Trentino museums—MUSE (Museo delle Scienze di Trento), Mart (Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto), and METS (Museo etnografico trentino San Michele)—collaborate on a single theme, each curating a section according to its expertise. The Fondazione Sergio Poggianella contributed over one hundred artifacts from China, Siberia, and Mongolia. The exhibition unfolds at Palazzo delle Albere in Trento and the Museo etnografico trentino in San Michele all’Adige. At the ethnographic museum, the focus is on ritual objects and instruments. At Palazzo delle Albere, the first floor, curated by MUSE, examines the shaman as an individual and societal figure, featuring garments, masks, and an immersive sensory experience replicating altered states of consciousness using cognitive science technology. The third section, curated by Mart on the second floor, presents 40 works by 26 international artists from the last 70 years, exploring spiritual and therapeutic themes with an environmentalist thread, exemplified by Joseph Beuys's 'Difesa della natura'.