Love Difference Members Meeting
Cittadellarte, Biella, 23rd October 2004

Love Difference is not only an artistic movement but it's an association of people, sharing the aim of valorizing the differences, a fundamental resource of the countries facing the Mediterranean.
Love Difference believes in dialogue and interaction: the general meeting is an opportunity to discuss and plan the activities. At the presence of founding members, the participants adopted 2003/04 definitive budget and 2005 budget estimate, confirmed future aims and discussed priorities for the next months. First of all, the need of improving the participation of the members in taking decisions and in developing projects.

 

The assembly then has discussed the projects promoted by the members:
Mario Cristiani, Arte Continua San Gimignano (www.artecontinua.org), confirms the co-operation for the project Arte x vino = Acqua, for which Love Difference and Arte Continua collaborate on an artistic project helping the construction of waterplants in Palestine and Israel.
Chiara Bertola, curator at Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice (www.querinistampalia.it), has suggested a model of activation of new Love Difference Centres and operative systems external to Cittadellarte. She confirms then the intent of supporting the project by Dafnà Moscati Il Mediterraneo nella tua città, fitting it within the educational program of Fondazione Querini Stampalia.
Giacinto di Petrantonio, GAMeC Bergamo, has presented the "Mobile Museum" project , developed with Tullio Leggeri. He has invited the members to exchange contents for the issue of the magazine Amaci dedicated to didactics for the contemporary art.
Enver Hadziomerspahic, director of Ars Aevi, Centre for Contemporary Arts in Sarajevo (www.arsaevi.ba), has proposed to host Love Difference events, to activate an important collaboration in Eastern Europe.
Sued Benkdim, from Associazione Diafa, Turin, hopes for a support from the network of Love Difference to an education project in Morocco.
Alfredo Tradardi (who works between Ivrea and Palestine developing to develop activities to foster cultural exchanges between Middle-east territories and Italy) has proposed the Centre for the Arts "Sakakini" in Rammalah (www.sakakini.org) as a potential operative centre of Love Difference in the Middle-east.

The meeting has then focused on more general topics, such as "difference" and "differences", European borders, the value of minor cultures, Mediterranean Islands, and the general plan which brings together all the project supported by Love Difference. Francesco Bernabei, from Cittadellarte Ecomomics Office and Filippo Fabbrica, Love Difference program responsible, propose to start a Course for Cultural Activators in Basilicata, to develop a Love Difference Centre in Matera. The aim is to activate projects in the Mediterranean area starting from culture, to develop sustainable projects and new job opportunities in the Mediterranean basin.

Finally, the members discussed the opportunity of funding a Love Difference Grant for UNIDEE-Università delle Idee, adressed to students and researchers focusing on various issues emerging from the Mediterranean area.

On the same day the Minimum Prize, the annual award Cittadellarte offers in the within of the "Arte al Centro" exhibition has been assigned to Jamil Hilal (Palestine) curator, with Ilan Pappe, of the book "Parlare con il nemico" ("Talking with the enemy"), one of the books presented in the exhibition, dedicated to "Turning Point Literature".