'Open-air museum' in Sicily with contemporary art

 The Foundation Orestiadi in Gibellina is launching the first open-air exhibit in Sicily since the outbreak of COVID-19. Masterworks on display will include the installation ''Montagna di Sale'' by Mimmo Paladino, a sculpture by Pietro Consagra, ''L'uomo con un carico di lune'', a marble installation, and artwork by British artist Peter Briggs.

The show is called ''Museo a cielo aperto'' (open-air museum). The Foundation will be presenting all its new acquisitions of contemporary art, paying homage to its founder Ludovico Corrao. The show will be inaugurated on the anniversary of his birth, June 26, to remember the senator, a symbol of reconstruction in Belice. After the 1968 earthquake, as mayor, Corrao brought to life the idea of a city of artists, calling to a renewed Gibellina Burri, Consagra, Accardi, Isgrò, Pomodoro, Paladino, Nunzio, Schifano, Quaroni, Venezia, Mendini, Purini, Levi, Damiani, Sciascia, Dolci, Buttitta as well as Joseph Beuys, Robert Wilson, Philip Glass, Thierry Salmon, Boetti, Scialoja, Turcato, Necrosius, Kusturica, Cage, Pennisi, Kokkos, Giovanna Marini, Zavattini, Zavoli, to name a few, during the unforgettable season of the Orestiadi, in the 1980s and 1990s, one of the most interesting and innovative creative laboratories of Europe.

The exhibition is located in the external area of Baglio di Stefano. Masterworks on display also include ''Chiesa Madre'' by Ben Jacober and Yannick Vu, ''Siderale'' by Michele Cossyro, and the ceramic artwork of Croce Taravella whose bright colors and materials create a dialogue between the markets of Palermo and Tunis. The itinerary includes views of the baronial house, which today houses the Museo delle Trame Mediterranee and n the ateliers with oeuvres by Milena Altini, Francesco Impellizzeri, Emilio Angelini. One of the ateliers also houses ''Tappeto Mediterraneo'' by Jonida Xherri, an Albanian artist who created a collective project with migrants living in centers close to Gibellina. There is also an installation by Mustafa Sabbagh, ''MKUltra: we are infinite and eternal''. The artwork was created by the Italian-Jordanian artist for the 2019 edition of international photography festival Gibellina Photoroad. With ''Museo a cielo aperto'', the Fondazione Orestiadi showcasing the history of a great material and immaterial heritage including performances and events.