Scientific Director

Maria Rosa Sossai

The Participatory Projects explore new ways of conceiving art as a practical tool for social cohesion: a response to the weakening of shared bonds, a search for those ritual gestures and forms of courtesy that have a beneficial effect on emotions and thoughts.

A department born of a shared history

Established as a department, the Participatory Projects of the Castelbuono Civic Museum emerged as a natural continuation of a journey of sharing initiated by the museum with the community to mark an extraordinary anniversary: the centenary of the purchase of the Ventimiglia Castle, which took place in 1920 thanks to a public fundraising campaign by the people of Castelbuono.

To celebrate that history, the museum launched the participatory project The 1920 Auction and the exhibition The Room of Wonders — created using objects loaned by citizens, who, through them, rediscovered the memory of the castle as a common good. The objects revealed their symbolic power to bring people together and create deep, lasting bonds.

Art as a community practice

That first experience of community prompted the museum to make participation a structural priority. Participatory projects give voice and space to experimental initiatives inspired by principles of educational, environmental and cultural sustainability, with a view to a circular economy of exchange and encounter.

In Participatory Projects, relationship-building is already a practice in itself. Being together protects against loneliness. The collective exercise of the imagination is a promise of happiness.

La voce di Maria Rosa Sossai

"Just like rituals, art is a sacred moment from which emanates a gravitational force capable of uniting people and generating a strong sense of cohesion. The time of art has always been the time of celebration, where people gather and linger, stimulating an inclusive identity that is fundamental to the formation of the spirit. The ritualised forms of interaction in participatory art help to structure a relationship with the world and guide social relations beyond the boundaries of the self.”