“MetodoContemporaneo”: Italy’s first permanent observatory on art and wine-growing landscapes

“A new perspective on the intertwining of contemporary arts, territory, and wine culture”: this is how MetodoContemporaneo presents itself, the first permanent Italian observatory on art and wine-growing landscapes promoted by the University of Verona with BAM! Strategie Culturali, which collects and recounts wine-growing realities as new cultural actors, promoters of innovative ways of enjoying the territory and landscape. It is a new tool, useful for investigating, learning more about, and further disseminating this widespread phenomenon in Italy, with peaks of excellence, which sees producers investing in art, with signature wineries designed by great architects, or transformed, like the vineyards, into “art galleries sui generis”. Presented yesterday in Milan, MetodoContemporaneo aims to be “not just an archive, but a dynamic and interactive map of the most significant cases - about 60 throughout Italy - that invest in the relationship between art, wine-growing landscape, and community, through permanent collections, artist residencies, site-specific installations, and awards for young creatives”.
“As part of an unprecedented and experimental research project, the University is acting as a driver of innovation, promoting sustainable cultural models and putting knowledge at the service of communities. The initiative reflects a vision that attributes a profoundly civic significance to the institution’s traditional educational role, oriented towards dialogue with local communities and the construction of shared knowledge networks”, explain Monica Molteni, associate professor of Museology, Art Criticism, and Restoration, and Luca Bochicchio, researcher in Contemporary Art History, both from the University of Verona, and scientific directors of the project.
“MetodoContemporaneo is an example of how participation and involvement can generate value, method, and vision, even in contexts that are not traditionally cultural. The wineries reveal a new relationship between art, business, and territory, and our role is to facilitate this dialogue, supporting these realities in the construction of a new dimension of the cultural landscape, capable of promoting forms of collaboration and participation”, adds Federico Borreani, Head of Consulting and Strategy at BAM! Strategie Culturali.
In addition to the observatory, the project also includes concrete actions in wine-producing areas, designed to strengthen the network of wineries as cultural actors and actively involve local communities and target audiences. On October 17 and 18, the first online event, MetodoContemporaneo. Itineraries through art, wine, and landscape, will be held in 14 wineries, from Trentino to Sicily, which will open their doors with guided tours, free activities, and new experiences for exploring the territory: from Alois Lageder to Ca’ del Bosco, from Castello di Ama to Castello di Perno, from Feudi di San Gregorio to Fontanafredda and Fondazione Mirafiore, from La Raia to Lungarotti, from Ottella to Planeta, from Rocca di Frassinello to Tenuta CastelGiocondo - Frescobaldi, from Tenute Lunelli - Carapace di Castelbuono to Vigne Museum. The initiative is part of “Doors of Change - Through heritage, opening up to the future”, a national event promoted by the Changes Foundation. And on November 14, the University of Verona will host the project's final scientific conference: a multidisciplinary dialogue between academia, culture, wine, and tourism, with experts from various fields. It will also be an opportunity to launch the full version of the platform, which is currently being completed.
“MetodoContemporaneo represents a new point of access for understanding a phenomenon that is still little studied but rapidly expanding”, conclude the promoters, “which aims to offer local communities, wine tourists, art lovers, and operators in the sector a tool for discovering a heritage in ferment. The initiative enhances the grafting of the cultural roots of wine into the contemporary language of art, promoting a sustainable way of discovering the territories and contributing to the construction of a new cultural landscape”.