Cultura e Conflitti (Culture and Conflicts)

Tuesday, December 2, 2025
10:00 AM – 1:00 PM

Bologna | Oratory of San Filippo Neri
Via Manzoni, 5

In the spring of 2026, CCN/Aterballetto canceled a tour in Tel Aviv and declined an invitation to St. Petersburg. And the coming months—and likely years—promise to be complicated in terms of geopolitics and conflict.

What role can art and culture play?
Will they be instruments of dialogue? An unbroken thread between a better past and future? Or a terrain vague on which to build walls?

And if the institutional dimension cannot ignore political thought, what will become of artists’ freedom of expression (real ones, not those voices serving propaganda)? What will become of the possibility—and certainly necessity—that they not enter a creative stand-by until history completes its inevitable cycle?

Under the patronage of the Emilia-Romagna Region, CCN/Aterballetto, together with AGIS, is promoting a meeting to hear testimonials on the topic of “Culture and Conflicts” in Bologna on Tuesday, December 2nd.

A presentation by Professor Andrea Carati, a political scientist at the University of Milan, will serve as the starting point for the meeting, providing an objective overview of communication difficulties at all levels during times of conflict.

Luca Vecchi, Chief of Staff to the President of the Emilia-Romagna Region, will provide the institutional perspective of a region that has always been at the forefront of international relations.

A presentation by Nicolas Ballario and the testimonies of several professionals working in very different roles, yet often in contact with the issues at hand, will further illuminate the space for culture amidst wars and conflicts.

Plan

INSTITUTIONAL GREETINGS

Gessica Allegni
Councilor for Culture, Parks and Forestry, Biodiversity Protection and Promotion, and Equal Opportunities | Emilia-Romagna Region

CONDUCTION

Domenico Barbuto
Secretary General | Italian General Association of Entertainment

Gigi Cristoforetti
Director | CCN/Aterballetto

OPENING

Luca Vecchi
Chief of Staff to the President | Emilia-Romagna Region

BEYOND CONFLICT? DIPLOMACY AND CULTURE IN THE CRISIS OF THE INTERNATIONAL ORDER

Andrea Carati
Political scientist and professor of International Relations at the University of Milan

ART: ANTIDOTE OR PROPAGANDA TOOL?

Nicolas Ballario
Art curator and cultural communicator

TESTIMONIALS

Giuliano Battiston
Journalist

Paolo Cantù
Director | Reggio Emilia Theatre Foundation

Aja Jung
Artist and cultural worker

Elisabetta Riva
Superintendent | Bologna Municipal Theatre

A TOY TANK?

PROTECTING ARTISTS AND MAKING INFORMED CHOICES IN TIMES OF CONFLICT.

It seems that, in the current landscape, no one can say with certainty what role culture should play in the conflicts we are experiencing. None of those involved seem to truly know who we can or should invite to our theaters, nor where to accept or decline an invitation. As if art were a slogan to be declined from time to time, rather than a deeply rooted social thought. As if a show could become a toy tank, similar to real ones. Or—conversely—as if one could ignore what’s happening in front of one’s door.

This meeting, conceived by CCN/Aterballetto and sponsored by Agis and the Emilia-Romagna Region, cannot provide definitive answers or decisions. First, we want to clearly frame the perspective of political history, which teaches us much we usually overlook, locked in a present that is difficult to interpret without broadening our perspective.

We would like to gain a deeper understanding of the times ahead, and how to manage our role. To protect artists from the risk of needlessly paying a price that isn’t theirs. And to assume our responsibilities more consciously. Without confining ourselves to “conflicting” tasks that simply aren’t ours, but without turning a blind eye.

(Gigi Cristoforetti, november 2025)

BEYOND THE CONFLICT?

DIPLOMACY AND CULTURE IN THE CRISIS OF THE INTERNATIONAL ORDER.

In recent years, international relations have entered a new phase, fraught with uncertainty and the portents of armed conflict. The international order, as we have known it since the post-World War II era and even more so since the end of the Cold War, is experiencing a profound crisis that in many ways appears irreversible. As happens at the beginning of any international transition, even more so when marked by conflict and potential large-scale war, we recognize the contours of the waning political order but cannot foresee its future.

In this context of profound transformation of international relations, the world of art and culture is not destined to fall victim to new conflicts, nor to be entirely absorbed by the political imperatives of the moment. Art and culture today possess, as they have always possessed, even in the most dramatic periods of international history, extrapolitical resources that are not negated by international politics.

Nonetheless, they are now facing a scenario that is not favorable to them, one that creates and will create constraints, dilemmas, and new choices, a scenario in which the relationship with politics will become increasingly complicated as competition and conflict intensify in the international arena.

(Andrea Carati, November 2025)

Published On: 14 November 2025

News

With “AN ECHO, A FRAME”, the performances meet the artworks of “I Preferiti di Marino. Chapter II – Opus Mundi.”

On the occasion of the exhibition “I Preferiti di Marino. Chapter II – Opus Mundi”, on view from 6 February to 28 June 2026 at the Centro Arti e Scienze Golinelli, Fondazione Golinelli, in collaboration with the CCN/Aterballetto, presents the performative project “AN ECHO, A FRAME”, conceived by choreographer Philippe Kratz.