Alessandro Schiavetti

Rachna Singh, editor, The Wise Owl talks to Alessandro Schiavetti, medieval archaeologist turned visionary curator. He straddles centuries of creativity — from unearthing the echoes of the past to shaping the aesthetics of the present. As President and Curator of the ACS Art Center, Artistic Director of the #Raccontandoci Festival, and Director of the Municipal Exhibition Center of Cecina (CEC), Schiavetti brings to each project a rare blend of scholarship, imagination, and cultural empathy. His curatorial path — marked by collaborations with institutions like the Amedeo Modigliani Documentation Center and the Hermann Geiger Foundation — reflects an enduring quest to make art a living conversation between time, place, and people.

 

Thank you Alessandro for taking time out to talk with The Wise Owl. We are indeed delighted.

 

RS: From archaeology to contemporary art, your journey bridges epochs and aesthetics. How does your grounding in medieval archaeology shape your sensibility as a curator of modern and conceptual art? Do you see continuity between the relic and the artwork, the ruin and the installation?

 

AS: It wasn't easy. It took me many years of study and attention. I studied medieval archaeology for many years, and slowly, every single work of art I encountered made me reflect on the value of the work itself. And it made me understand how thin the line between an archaeological find and a work of art is. Then I realized that there is no difference, because it was the hands and minds of human beings that created the artifact, whether it be a contemporary aesthetic work or a stone pillar supporting a heavy ancient architrave. In the same way, an ancient ruin can become a contemporary installation and a place for dialogue, precisely because the eras that lead us to the past seem distant only apparently, but are united by a fundamental element that has permeated them all: humanity. Hence my exploration of the contemporary, and the love I carry with me for this extraordinary creative period. And then, when you manage to blend contemporary art into an ancient space steeped in tradition, the result can only be stimulating and powerful.

 

 

RS: Your curatorial projects, (whether it is ACS Art Center or #Raccontandoci) pulse with a humanist spirit. What inner compass guides you when transforming artistic ideas into immersive, participatory experiences for the public?

 

AS: Thank you for this question, as I find it truly perfect. The right word is 'immersive'. When I work for all the cultural genres I'm involved in, I always try to deepen my work, through study, research, and a perfect blend of scenography and aesthetics. If you can make something that appears otherwise enjoyable, it's certainly better understood. Today, spaces must engage with the exhibited object, and vice versa, whether it's a contemporary installation or an ancient museum object. You can't imagine exhibiting something in a bare state. Curiosity must be pushed beyond limits, to stimulate passion and culture in people. Every object, and every work of art, must be supported by a scenographic and meaningful framework. This applies to exhibitions, but also to festivals where literature, history, and culture are discussed. My compass guides me not toward a single cardinal point, but toward my love for the work I do.

 

 

RS:  You’ve worked with iconic institutions like the Amedeo Modigliani Documentation Center. How do you approach curating around a towering figure like Modigliani, ensuring the exhibition both honors the legacy and opens space for new interpretations?

 

AS: In Italy, as in the rest of the world, Modigliani's figure is of primary importance. I was born in the same city as Modigliani, Livorno. A very special city, overlooking the sea, in Italy. The Documentation Center collects documents, volumes, books, and everything related to this monumental artist. About his drawings, for example, there is much to say, much to study, and much still to be explored. But as you well know, artists are never finished exploring, learning, and understanding. The passing of the years, new technologies, and the in-depth studies that are developing right now at an artistic level will certainly help researchers around the world to gain an even clearer understanding of the ideas that great artists sought to express with their immortal works. When I work on an exhibition, I do this. I immerse myself and go into silent mode for months and months, and I study the person, the man, the artist. All in the most profound detail, trying to better understand the ideas that each work contains.

 

 

RS: Your festivals, CecinAutori and Un Parco di Autori, bring literature, music, and visual arts into a single creative orbit. What draws you to this interdisciplinary dialogue, and how do you see the arts illuminating each other in such shared spaces?

 

AS: I don't like to limit myself to a single discipline. Our strongest weapon, as a human being, is our multidisciplinary nature. The ability to harness a multitude of skills, and with sacrifice, a wealth of knowledge. Study is the foundation of everything. Creativity is the best dish to serve to art-hungry diners. Festivals, for example, bring all of this together: creativity, literature, music, cinema, art, and culture. And I'm sure—in fact, very sure—that every art has the capacity to dialogue with other arts. Every single human creation has the capacity to dialogue with others of the same kind, even at distances considered impossible. The impossible does not exist for human beings if they are capable of knowing themselves through the use of ideas, study, and work. Every art can illuminate new ones. Every art can create new ones. And so on.

 

 

RS: Curation today is no longer confined to the white walls of galleries. How do you interpret the expanding frontiers of curatorship — into digital, environmental, and communal spaces — where art meets life more directly than ever before?

 

AS: This is also a very important observation. We should be able to engage with the art world around the world on this topic, hold conferences, debates, and further explore the issue. Evolution has led us to have access to technologies that allow us to think beyond our own imagination. This was unthinkable until a few decades ago. Curatorship didn't exist as a contemporary concept before. It was critics, or gallery owners, who did what we do today; the roles have become distinct. Today, a curator must be multitasking, able to do dozens of things at once, and be able to coordinate them all. Just as they must be able to coordinate dozens of professionals. Curating today isn't just about hanging paintings on the wall, as was always thought in years past. It's a psychological process that takes place alongside the artist. And together, a new world is created, which then becomes the overall layout of the exhibition. The artwork is no longer alone, but has an infinite array of tools at its disposal, made up of data, exhibition techniques, digital technology, and so on. In my work, I've always given the exhibited work added value, ensuring it has all the perfect settings to make it perform at its full potential. Sounds, scents, lights and lighting, even the temperature of the surrounding environment—everything that can be modified must be allowed to in an exhibition. I've done this, for example, not only for contemporary art exhibitions, but also for exhibitions dedicated to the study of the anthropology of distant lands, with Native Americans, with Arctic Inuit, with the ancient history of Japan, and so on. Each exhibition had its own technical characteristics, the hallmarks of an exhibition project that takes years and years of study and work to create.

 

 

RS: You are also an art critic and writer, chronicling the movements and moods of contemporary art. In what ways does the act of writing refine your curatorial eye? And conversely, how does curating feed the critic’s pen?

 

AS: As I mentioned above, today there are many roles emerging in the art world, including new ones that were previously unheard of. I've always written, ever since I was a child. I designed and drew, and I wrote stories related to what I drew and thought. That's how my work developed. I draw drafts, I write critical pieces unsparingly and in a very direct and candid manner. But at the same time, I also feel the need to write things outside of work, like stories, texts on society, and of course catalogs. Critic and curator are two different entities, working side by side. Today, curators have advanced skills that allow them to prepare critical texts while simultaneously designing layouts, considering the psychology of works, framing them in space and vice versa, making them engage with it, and coordinating production units that make an exhibition an experience, and not just a slideshow of images. I could never imagine a world where writing is no longer possible. Writing is the essence of tradition, the record of where we have come as a human race and where we will arrive. It is the material testimony of our development on Earth. It is the strength of our spirit. Writing is essential to an artistic work, and a comprehensive curatorial vision can only facilitate the work of a critic. And vice versa.

 

 

RS: As you look toward the evolving European art landscape, what themes or shifts do you find most vital — especially in the ways art responds to identity, memory, and social transformation in our turbulent times?

 

AS: We are experiencing a profound, radical, and at times very dangerous change. We live in an era in which humanity has sunk into a whirlwind of social problems. There are many ongoing wars that are not only destroying human lives, but are destroying entire cultures. And when you attack one culture, you attack the entire world. Art is the main vehicle we all have at our disposal to demonstrate the beauty of living in a collective world, full of ideas and never saturated with creativity. Only art and culture can be the way out of humanity's darkest periods. The light that art emanates can not only illuminate minds, but also transform everyday life into a sign to be interpreted, fueling our curiosity and giving us the strength to face the present with a view to the future. And without ever forgetting our past, the true foundation of our cultures. Europe is currently focused on issues that are misleading with respect to art and its development. Unfortunately, it has other priorities and needs. But with this, we must never forget who we are. We are men of art, we are men who have transformed the impossible into the possible, and all this thanks to the constant knowledge that culture has provided us. We used to paint animals in the Lascaux caves, now we enjoy immersive experiences in virtual worlds. We are this, let's not forget it. But let's let romanticism continue to guide us, without being overwhelmed by anything else.

 

Thank you for your forthright responses to our questions. In a world where art is often consumed in passing glances and fleeting images, Alessandro Schiavetti reminds us that curation is not merely the arrangement of objects but the choreography of meanings — a dialogue between epochs, disciplines, and souls. His work stands at the intersection of history and imagination, turning exhibitions into living narratives and festivals into spaces of shared wonder.