XXVII Biennale di Gubbio: Emerging Artists Challenge Historical Masters

The 27th edition of the Biennale di Gubbio, titled IMAGINA, opened in 2023, focusing on how contemporary art can reactivate and reinvent the relationship between a territory and its iconic sites. Curated by Marco Bassan, the biennial invited emerging Italian artists to create works that engage with Gubbio's layered history—from the pre-Roman Eugubine Tables to the medieval Palazzo dei Consoli and the Renaissance Ducal Palace. The exhibition argues that Italy's fixation on its archaeological past stifles contemporary creativity, and that emerging artists must 'kill the masters' to produce a new narrative. The event aims to restore artists to a central social role, countering their current marginalization where they are often asked only to decorate. IMAGINA is a portmanteau of 'image' and 'imagine', emphasizing the power of art to activate imagination. The biennial seeks to present the best of Italy's emerging art scene, experimenting with contamination between art and civil society to generate new meanings for the present and future. Marco Bassan, founder of Spazio Taverna, curated projects for MAECI, Fondazione CDP, CONAI, Musei Capitolini, Museo Nazionale Romano, and Parco Archeologico dell'Appia.