The Italian Cultural Institute of Barcelona presents the second edition of IT Out OFF, a program conceived by the Directorate General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture in collaboration with the DirectorateGeneral for Public and Cultural Diplomacy of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, for the internationalization of Italian art. 

For the 2024 edition, the public program, Sowing Archives, conceived and curated by Sara Alberani and Chiara Siravo (LOCALES), is presented at La Virreina Centre de la Imatge, a contemporary art space run by the city of Barcelona.

The title of the program refers to the importance of the archive as a visual, imaginative as well as knowledge building medium within marginalized and invisibilized contexts. The project works with the belief that artistic practices have the capacity to locate and gather traces of the past and plant the necessary seeds for the recognition of those histories and experiences whose memory is at risk of being lost. Just as there are potential histories, there are also potential archives that can take root through the sowing and irrigation of their subterranean substances, which often only appear to be hidden.

Through the work of the international artists involved in the program, Adelita Husni Bey, Muna Mussie and Daniela Ortiz, Sowing Archives recognizes and celebrates the importance of counter-narratives, particularly in the context of Europe’s colonial past. The project initiates a dialogue between Italy and Spain, where multiple artistic practices are developing and bringing to light a critical perspective towards the persistent aesthetic and ideological reverberations of colonialism, also through alternative pedagogy geared towards reformulating collective memory.

Composed of performances, video projections, workshops and a series of editorial releases, Sowing Archives consists of three main events hosted by Palau de la Virreina, site of La Virreina Centre de la Imatge of Barcelona, from 1 October through the end of November 2024.

Sowing Archives is a public program promoted by the Directorate General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture and by the Italian Cultural Institute of Barcelona in conjunction with the Manifesta 15.

The project is supported by La Virreina Centre de la Imatge, àngels barcelona, Laveronica Arte Contemporanea, Sharjah Foundation and with the collaboration of Calafou and Nero Editions.