The COCOAA Project is here!

an ambitious project, the Conzano Contemporary Art and Artegiro Project (COCOAA Project)  has finally come about!

Thanks to an initial contact between the Conzano City Council and the Artegiro Project due to the introduction of Clelia March, Cultural Attaché to the Australia Embassy in Rome, the commitment of both entities to promoting fresh and fruitful exchanges and activities between the Italian and Australian cultural communities, has represented a natural progression of their collaboration.

Since 2011, in fruitful and innovative ways, the Comune and Artegiro have undertaken  an annual artist residency, which is now part of the Res Artist network, and organized various art events.

The recently created COCOAA Project is a program with a specific focus on contemporary art practices and curatorial research.

One of the two important reasons why the COCOAA Project has come about is to give international artists, art critics and curators, with a specific focus on the Oceania region, an annual opportunity to work and reflect with a firm gaze on collaborations, decolonizing curatorial practices and publishing the outcomes of these collaborations and reflections.

This coming year, in May 2016, the first annual forum, “Art and (de)colony ” ( further relevant materials will be posted on this blog) will bring together around 60 artists, curators, scholars, from Australia and from various countries of the European Union to express the voice of contemporary art practice.

This ambitious event will enable artists, curators and scholars from Europe and Australia between the 14 to the 16 May 2016 in Conzano, to discuss and identify what challenges the art industry and art communities face today in both regions and in their reciprocal exchanges, and what solutions they propose.

The project aims to be part of the structured dialogue between the art industry and decision-makers that we find needs strengthening.

It follows successful traditions of official events like the national Forum for Contemporary Art just held in Italy. However, the COCOAA Project events specifically will give voice to the “real art practitioners“, coming from various backgrounds, especially from the Oceania region. Outcome of the discussion will be a declaration adopted by the participants, which will be disseminated to relevant politicians and decision-makers all over Europe and Australia.

The project is financed by the Comune di Conzano, the Artegiro Project and sponsored by the regional Piedmont government and the provincial Alessandria government. more information about the project will be found here soon (http://cocoaaproject.org)