'Beyond Borders', Italian culture on show in Tunis
Tunis - The aim of the research project “Transnationalizing Modern Languages. Mobility, Identity and Translation in Modern Italian Cultures (TML)” is to study the form and significance of the Italian language and culture through daily translation and identification processes.
The Project will present the travelling exhibition 'BEYOND BORDERS. Transnational Italy/OLTRE I CONFINI". Italia Transnazionale" at the Italian Cultural Institute in Tunis from 7 December 2017 to 21 February 2018. The project researchers examined a number of representative cases of the geographical, historic and linguistic map of Italian mobility in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, South America, and Africa and among the migrants and second generations of migrants in Italy, exploring the meaning of being Italian and of citizenship in the light of trans-national citizens interweaving languages, memories and cultures in a globalised world.
The research examined and produced texts, works, objects, photographs and interviews that tell the story of being Italian and of everyday translation practices. This interactive exhibition arises from the need to transmit to a broader public, beyond the world of academia, the wealth of practices explored by researchers offering material to participants seeking a teaching and reflection tool on the transcultural dynamics in the contemporary world. Thanks to the cooperation between curators Viviana Gravano and Giulia Grechi of Routes Agency, a series of multimedia installations were set up that, to the eye of visitors, appear as a series of “rooms” in a home. The “home” that visitors are invited to enter, in a metaphorical sense, is the environment that culture and language offer us in order to “inhabit” our lives and our relationships. The exhibition space offers visitors a sensorial and interactive experience of the research materials, facilitating the identification process through the experiences narrated.
In addition, the exhibition also displays the photographic work 'Italy is out' by photographer Mario Badagliacca, that he made as resident artist of the TML Project, and for which he met different generations of Italians in London, New York, Buenos Aires and Addis Ababa. “Beyond Borders. Transnational Italy” is a travelling exhibition that started at the British School in Rome in October 2016. Following in the steps of TML researchers in London, New York, Melbourne and Addis Ababa, the exhibition involved participants in the research project, as well as a numerous group of visitors, especially Italian language students and language teachers, in a series of cultural and pedagogical activities. In Tunis, the exhibition will be the heart of a number of didactic initiatives developed by researcher Barbara Spadaro to explore the multilingual and multicultural context in Tunisia, starting with the presence of the Italian language and culture.
Two Workshops conducted by Routes Agency and by Mario Badagliacca, hosted at the Manouba University in Tunis and by Cospe Onlus Tunisia, will produce a new set of multimedia installations on the forms of memory and translation in Tunisia in “reply” to the TML Research Project. The new exhibition with the work produced by students will be hosted at the Italian Cultural Institute in Tunis on 21 February 2018.