The Department of UP Arts has officially opened a temporary exhibition called World Disclosure at the University of Pretoria’s Villa Museum, which will run until 18 May 2018 and is open to the public, students and staff.

The temporary exhibition is a collaborative engagement between the Department of UP Arts and its external strategic partners to create a platform for national and international talent exposure that also serves as a community outreach exercise. Situated in the Villa Museum, the World Disclosure exhibition is well positioned to promote intercultural dialogue between South Africa and Italy.

In her opening address, Anna Amendolagine, Director of the Istituto Italiano di Cultura  (Italian Cultural Institute) in Pretoria, expressed that ‘the Istituto Italiano di Cultura aims to share with the world the legacy and artistic talent executed by Luigi Di Sarro, an artist and medical doctor whose works of art [play a major role in] artistic and scientific research for critics and historians [in terms] of explorative experimental studies. Di Sarro expressed his thoughts on various art disciplines and forms, such as graphics, sculpture, photography, painting and drawing. The Italian Cultural Institute also endeavours to establish concrete intercultural dialogues between South Africa and Italy to equally benefit scholars and the public in both countries.’

The exhibition was installed through joint curatorial efforts by Prof Paola Ballesi and Daniel Rankadi Mosako, the UP Arts Museum Curator, who initiated a sculptural dialogue between Edoardo Villa and Luigi Di Sarro.

The Italian Cultural Institute reinforced the intercultural dialogue between itself and the Centro Di Sarro in Rome by donating two original art works by Luigi Di Sarro to the University of Pretoria Art Collection. This kind gesture was accompanied by the donation of literature references and books that explore in-depth studies on the Italian artist Luigi Di Sarro, with the aim of making them available as research material to students.

To mark this intercultural initiative, Prof Ballesi gave a public lecture which interpreted the sculptures by Di Sarro, providing the audience with an insight into the socio-cultural interactions that govern human beings in their everyday activities in the world.