Valerio Rocco Orlando Launches South of Imagination Digital Platform

Milanese artist Valerio Rocco Orlando has launched South of Imagination (A Sud Dell’Immaginazione), a digital platform exploring the intersection of art and education. The participatory online work, live from June 3, 2021, is the first phase of a broader educational experiment that will culminate in a video installation at Milan's Museo del Novecento and the founding of a new independent, international, transdisciplinary art school in Matera. The project is supported by the Italian Council (9th edition, 2020) of the Ministry of Culture, proposed by Nomas Foundation in partnership with DiSSE-Sapienza University of Rome. It unites diverse communities through shared laboratory experiences with international artists across multidisciplinary spaces, creating both online and in-person dialogue. Future developments include a symposium at Parsons The New School in New York (2022), a solo exhibition at Nomas Foundation in Rome, and a publication. The ultimate goal is a new art school in Matera, housed in a state-owned building granted by the municipality for 30 years. Orlando's research draws on the Epistemologies of the South by Boaventura de Sousa Santos and his own background as a professor of Multimedia Dramaturgy at Brera Academy. The project aims to build a network of students, artists, educators, researchers, and activists through active, intersubjective listening.