CUNEO, IT.- As summer arrives we see the start of the ZOOart contemporary art exhibition to be held in Cuneo from the 2-19 of July. This year is the eighth edition. The exhibition has renewed itself with new ideas and strategies, adapting to the changing world. The first new aspect is its international focus, which began in previous exhibitions but will be further extended this year, confirming its European identity, featuring many international art works, from many European nations. On the national front a selection by the ZOOart curators has been made featuring new young Italian artists that are predominantly emerging in the contemporary arts scene. In this way, ZOOart is an authentic window into the rich local arts scene that interconnects with the international realm. Another new aspect is the collaboration with the Albertina Academy of Turin, which allows young artists to be supported and given visibility from the very beginning of their artistic journey, something the exhibition has followed in the last few years. For this exhibition five artists have been selected from those presented from the Academy, creating a culture and synergy of artistic learning and promotion.

Due to their success the lounge area and educational workshop area for kids will return this year. In addition guided tours of the gallery will continue each Friday from 9 pm in the evening so viewers may understand and investigate the works displayed.

The exhibition will be inaugurated on Thursday the 2nd of July at 9 pm in the evening, and similar to the previous years the exhibition will remain open for three weeks with aspects of the exhibition changing every week.

The artists selected this year are:

Week 1, Thursday the 2nd to Sunday the 5th of July from 9-12 in the evening: Paolo Turco, Veronica Bellei, Giulio Zanet, Alessandro Beluardo, Eliana Frontini, Carla Crosio, EPVS, Lee Ahram, Elodie Paladino, Francesco Ozzola, Lucia Amalia Maggio, Massimo Spada, Jonas Zagorskas, Hondatrza Fraga, Gabriel Shalom, Francesca Ferreri and Max Zarri.

Week 2, Thursday the 9th to Sunday the 12th of July from 9-12 in the evening: Semira Forte, Francesca Sibona, Eilis Murphy, Roberto Del Pol, Michela Del Degan, Valentina Maggi, Julia Mastrogiacomo, Daniela Spagna Musso, Cèline Trouillet, Annamaria Di Giacomo, Jonas Seaman.

Week 3, Thursday the 16th to Sunday the 19th of July from 9-12 in the evening: Riccardo Muroni, Cinzia Ceccarelli, Cosimo Veneziano, Allison Maletz, Lia Cecchin, Debora Fede, Damiano Fenoglio, Donald Abad, Jeremy Neuman, Emilio Romano.

During the evenings of inauguration a Betulla records DJs provides music.

During the second week the projects selected for the third international ExZOObition (mainfestaZOOne) will be places in urban areas of Cuneo in the form of 6 x 3 meter public notices. Participating artists are from all over Europe. This years theme for the exhibition (mainfestaZOOne) is “r-evolution”. This visually represents a theme from this years Cuneo international literature festival Scrittorincittà with which ZOOart collaborates, in order to bring attention to the socio-economical issues of this delicate time in history. During this crisis, it is perhaps necessary to seek the evolution of political, economical and social systems to improve the current situation. The theme “r-evolution”, also brings homage to Charles Darwin, the bicentenary of his birth was celebrated last February.

The winning works of the ExZOObition (mainfestaZOOne) will be hung from the 2nd of July, the date of the ZOOart inauguration, in the Fesia Gardens, but will be visible throughout the city from the 9th of November during the Scrittorincittà festival.

From this year the IED (European Design Institute of Turin) will also participate in selecting the works. The prestigious international school of design, fashion, visual arts and communication has shown interest in this project from Cuneo that is unique within Italy, it promotes an artistic message in public spaces where a commercial product would typically be displayed. In the last exhibition artists and graphic designers from across Europe participated showing that Cuneo is a city that invigorates young creative energy.

In conclusion we also make note that as well as on our official website, extracts from our exhibition will also be shown on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube so that all the persons who can’t physically visit the exhibition, but who are interested, will have all the material available for viewing on the internet as well as our contact details if any questions arise.