Iranian and Italian artists face off for Memory and the Object, the exhibition at the Certosa di San Giacomo in Capri

Two different cultures, confronted, for "Memory and the Object." Part of the fourth edition of the Visioni Contemporanee exhibition, the exhibition is held at the Certosa di San Giacomo, the convent overlooking the Faraglioni rocks of Capri, which once again opens its doors to contemporary art, presenting a dialogue between Iranian and Italian artists. The group exhibition, curated by Alessandro Demma and Vahid Malek, will be open until October 31, 2017, with a special program of visits scheduled for Saturday, October 14, to mark Contemporary Art Day. The exhibition was conceived and organized by IGAV-Istituto Garuzzo per le Arti Visive, together with the Polo Museale della Campania, in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the City of Capri. The artists include some of the most exciting names in the emerging national art scene, including AfterAll, Filippo Centenari, Fabrizio Cotognini, Pamela Diamante, Pierpaolo Lista, Giovanni Termini, and Ciro Vitale. They are complemented by Iranian artists Firoozeh Akhlaghi, Mohamad Hadi Fadavi, Shahram Karimi, Alireza Karimpour, Alireza Saadatmand, Sahar Salehi, and Amir Bakhtiar Sanjabi. The curators describe the concept as follows: "Memory and the object are the two key elements of this project, two opposing lines traveling on parallel tracks in our lives. These are the themes that create an interaction between Italian and Iranian artists, through the use of different media, from drawing to painting, from sculpture to installation, from photography to video art. On one side, memory, history; on the other, the object, understood as reality." Rosalba Garuzzo, president of IGAV, a non-profit organization that has been working to foster cultural exchange between Italy and foreign countries since 2005, also expressed great satisfaction. She stated: "It wasn't easy, but we did it. This is thanks to our Institute's now internationally recognized standing, but above all, thanks to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which encouraged us and provided us with the ongoing support of its talented representatives, and thanks to the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, which supported us. In Vahid Malek, we have found an experienced and equally motivated partner, who we hope will contribute to fostering a new era in cultural relations between the two countries, while also promoting awareness of our artists worldwide, which is the statutory mission of the Garuzzo Institute."