The capacity building programme organised by Eccom was hosted by the Museo delle Civiltà. Bringing together the Contested Desires partnership and 10 of the 22 commissioned artists to explore coloniality in a building conceived by Mussolini in the 1930’s as a symbol of the Fascist Regime and Italian Empire.

The two day programme invited us to frame ethical and equitable approaches to engaging artists, partners and participants on a rich journey of exploration, contestation and learning.  Here we heard from Italian cultural producers, project evaluators, museums in Chile and Italy and ethics experts with practice knowledge across Africa, South America, Europe and West Asia.

Hosted by D6:EU and Larnaka 2030 – European Capital of Culture Candidate City, we will come together again in Cyprus in January 2025 to consider the environmental impact of colonisation and the steps we can take to lower our carbon footprint. 

Special thanks to Eccom for the programme design, Museo delle Civiltà for hosting us and all the speakers and event participants who made it such a rich conversation.

Image: partners and artists outside the Museo delle Civilta. Photo: Gabriele Orlandini