CONTEMPORARY ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY
In-ruins residency 2023, Sibarys Archaeological Park, Deposta by Traslochi Emotivi, with Giulia Currà and Danila Gambettola,‘ Photo by Akshay Mahajan.
About
Founded in Calabria and promoted by Associazione Archeofuturo since 2018,
In-ruins is a nomadic residency program dedicated to exploring the encounter between contemporary art and archaeology. Through the temporary settlement of artists, curators, and researchers near monumental sites in Southern Italy, In-ruins reimagines the territory starting from its past. Ancient ruins become meeting grounds for urgent artistic practices and interdisciplinary dialogue, in the heart of peripheral contexts. Rooted in a post-southern and Mediterranean perspective, the project seeks to valorise not only archaeological heritage, but also the myths, traditions, and stories of the communities that have long inhabited and preserved it. In-ruins is directed by Nicola Guastamacchia (residencies) and Maria Luigia Gioffrè (performance section), with curatorship by Nicola Nitido. Since 2023, the residency has been developed in collaboration with Fondazione Elpis, Milan.
![AnnaulJournal_[FondazioneElpis]_22novembre_Draft4.pdfINRUINS2 (2).jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/23ab1a_6221f5cb85124f8b9248eb0cf99a2a16~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_147,h_104,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_avif,quality_auto/23ab1a_6221f5cb85124f8b9248eb0cf99a2a16~mv2.jpg)
How we work
Over the past few years, In-ruins has emerged as one of the most compelling experimental residency programs in Italy, distinguished by its unique focus on archaeology and its itinerant nature. Rather than operating from a fixed location, we relocate each year to a different town, selecting a new archaeological site as the starting point for our work. This nomadic approach demonstrates the potential to conduct high-level contemporary artistic research in peripheral and often challenging contexts. Each site becomes part of an evolving journey, drawing connections between distant geographies and temporalities. Every edition is anchored in a public research project developed in collaboration with partner archaeological institutions. Our open calls articulate specific research axes that help guide participants in exploring the historical and contextual layers of each location.
Exploring situated, post-meridan horizons and practices
In-ruins is a pilot project and experimental model of good practice that connects contemporary art, cultural heritage, and marginal territories, with a strong focus on the Mediterranean context.
Based in Southern Italy, it responds to the absence of institutions dedicated to contemporary culture by activating archaeological sites through artistic research and production.
The residency highlights local and collective stories, turning them into catalysts for new reflections, while fostering a sense of pride and belonging among local communities.
By generating sustainable economic flows and proposing alternatives to extractive tourism, In-ruins demonstrates how peripheral areas can become central to rethinking the role of art in shaping inclusive and critical Mediterranean narratives.
![Introducing FANNY SOUADE SOW
SELECTED ARTIST IN-RUINS RESIDENCY 2024
“In a recently published text, Elsa Dorlin wrote, “In parallel to this war of words in which the imposing of linguistic elements on violence consists in reversing the relationship between cause and effect [...], there is this silence as a weapon so characteristic of the contemporary period in which the very suspension of any official communiqué plays on the primary recognition of the reality of facts, and quite simply erases lives from the reality.”
Fanny Souade Sow thus questions how monuments – from memorials to statues, as well as other cultural heritage intended for commemoration or remembrance – become the vehicles of an authorised and controlled narrative, defending a certain legitimised vision of History. Whether in the form of editions, sculptures, performances or video, she questions the effects of colonial heritage on racialized bodies.
His works have recently been exhibited in group exhibitions including at FRAC Franche-Comté (Besançon) and KADIST (Paris), the Galerie Eric Dupont (Paris) and the 66th Salon de Montrouge. In January 2022, she benefited from a first solo exhibition at RECYCLART (Brussels). She has been a resident at SAW Gallery (Ottawa, Canada), CAC Brétigny (France) and Glasgow Sculpture Studios x Centre for Contemporary Arts (Glasgow, Scotland). She is currently resident at the Marseille Workshops Places (France) for the years 2023 - 2025. In 2024, she took part in the 15th Biennale de la jeune création at La Graineterie, Houilles.”
📸 Aurélien Mathis
In-ruins 2024 is hosted by Matera National Museums and organised in collaboration with Fondazione Elpis.
@museinazionalidimatera
@fondazioneelpis
@souadesow](https://scontent-sea5-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t39.30808-6/471192277_18286125922243822_4074084699202677454_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35_tt6&_nc_cat=110&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=18de74&_nc_ohc=7M6ALZDszdMQ7kNvwEQEARI&_nc_oc=AdmnCmbsaKYN_yqnjb7WzVE2bdENOH7v-aeBCg1JISQ8UXOGt1c4gDGsyGne3WjlqtU&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-sea5-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&_nc_gid=8NsW1UjqxpBOxtf8ikFNow&oh=00_AfMFB-PZsI4sSak24w-34OqQANs0vLQh2E25-y8gNpcM8Q&oe=6864B857)
![OPEN CALL
⏳ deadline 07/07
📍link in BIO
@museinazionalidimatera
@fondazioneelpis
🔎 RESEARCH AXES🔎
3. APOIKIA AND DECOLONIZATION
The Greeks used the term apoikia [ἀπ-οικία, “home away from home”] to refer to a newly founded polis created by the settlement of a group of citizens in distant lands, aiming to establish a community independent from the metropolis [μήτηρ + πόλις = “mother city”] of origin. The Greeks carried with them their language, customs, and mythologies, but they did not expand the territorial authority of the motherland. From this itinerancy a civilization tradition was born: not a mere geopolitical dominance. In contrast, modern colonizations were characterized by the annexation, control, and exploitation of new lands. The inherent dynamism of ancient Greek apoikia is inspiring in our time of rampant nationalisms. What ideas can we draw from these stories of independence, freedom of movement?
4. HELEN’S EGG
In the summer of 1986, the Archaeological Superintendency of Basilicata acquired a tomb assemblage of exceptional interest roughly dated 5th century BC. Among the artifacts, a small sculpture depicting an egg from which a female figure emerges, and an anthropomorphic pendant representing a male and a female figure on opposite faces.There are no direct comparisons with these sculptures.The first is a representation of the mythical birth of Helen (of Troy or Sparta) from the egg resulting from the union of Zeus and the goddess Nemesis. The second amulet could be connected to a philosophical-religious conception of the unity of opposites and in a rare representation of Phanes [Light], the primordial deity of Orphic cosmogony, also born from an egg laid by Chronos [Time] and Ananke [Necessity]. The sculptures may suggest that, at the end of the 5th century, forms of mystic spirituality specific to the female sphere had developed in Metaponto, leading to the birth of actual thiasoi: associations of women. Inspired by these unique artifacts, is it possible to reinterpret the egg— a fertile entity containing both genders— and the myth of Helen— divine, victim, guilty— as symbols and metaphors for current gender claims?
ITA ⬇️](https://scontent-sea1-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t39.30808-6/470672918_18286114174243822_8931737180376417565_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35_tt6&_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=18de74&_nc_ohc=wfFqe8_wa40Q7kNvwFMMauk&_nc_oc=AdnxPlICB9bjpkYVZ1cMZYf1wZ0cmw9mMaPBS555dZdRDiFSqjP_dkyh0tWuRvNUeCM&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-sea1-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&_nc_gid=8NsW1UjqxpBOxtf8ikFNow&oh=00_AfMWyxuVKxc6Dj76KVuumArXFPb9tOh7vjz3WUFZIrLrXw&oe=6864B3FE)
![In-ruins residency 2024
OPEN CALL
⏳ deadline 07/07
📍link in BIO
hosted by @museinazionalidimatera
in collaboration with @fondazioneelpis
🏺 CONTEXT 🏺
Metaponto was one of the most important colonies of Magna Graecia. Located on the coast of the Gulf of Taranto, in the plain bordered by the Basento and Bradano rivers, the ancient city was built in-between mountains and the sea. The settlement was founded by Achaeans around the mid-7th century BC. The origin of the name is uncertain. According to some, it can be traced back to the ancient hero Metabos, confirming the mythical pre-Achaean foundation by the Pelesgians led by Nestor, who were shipwrecked after the victorious siege of Troy. According to other genealogies, the etymology should be emphasized. In this sense, μετά (τόν) πόντον [metá (tón) pónton] could poetically mean both “city beyond the sea” and, more unlikely, “city between two rivers”.
The population of Metaponto presented among the highest degrees of ethnic interaction with the indigenous communities present in the territory. It minted its own currency and had an agricultural sector counting thousands of farms. It is no coincidence that the symbol of the city was a wheat ear, and it is said that a precious “golden harvest” was donated to the sanctuary of Apollo in Delphi. Apollo and Hera were indeed the main deities worshiped in the city. One of the monumental structures still visitable on the shores of the Bradano River is the Temple of the Palatine Tables, dedicated to Hera. Passed-down stories tell that Epeius, the mythical builder of the Trojan Horse, was buried here; and, in the same place, Pythagoras established his philosophical school upon his exile from Croton.
The city allied with Sybaris in the war that led to the destruction of Siris (530 BC) and participated in the subsequent annihilation of Sybaris itself by the Crotoniates (510 BC). Following the weakening of the Achaean alliance in the Ionian Sea, it underwent the rise of Taranto’s power in the following centuries, entering a phase of growing political uncertainty.
Images courtesy Direzione Regionale Musei Nazionali della Basilicata.
ITA in comments](https://scontent-sea1-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.29350-15/448612271_1659150868179772_6158784461813825016_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35_tt6&_nc_cat=101&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=18de74&_nc_ohc=aFC3HmWyLN8Q7kNvwF5YG9I&_nc_oc=AdlgVKx4HZkdp9LWwRbuyijYngRjzA9QPXS_1lGZmFD5MLhd-suIBrh7VpqbRCBF2xw&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-sea1-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&_nc_gid=8NsW1UjqxpBOxtf8ikFNow&oh=00_AfNfsHw77sSm-uNKTEDXfXe6uGb1Nl2721UhCml0KJhcvg&oe=6864B3C8)
