Calls for proposals
Since its foundation in April 2024, the Association has participated in calls for proposals launched by the Ministry of Culture, as well as by private organisations and foundations, approaching each application as an opportunity for research, positioning and project innovation.
The Association has taken part in national and regional calls for proposals, also through its second local office in Val di Vara, located at Via Cavezzano 16. It has also participated in international calls, developing collaborations and strengthening relationships with organisations and institutions active in Brazil and Spain.
Regardless of the outcomes, these processes have fostered new connections, consolidated a strategic network and contributed to the development of cultural formats focused on sustainability, the enhancement of local territories and the active engagement of communities.
Calls for proposals at international and national level
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Ministerio de Vivienda y Agenda Urbana, Bando Subvenciones Arquitectura: City Kaleidoscope (Spain)
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Italian Council 14 edizione - 2025: Come lo spazio trasforma l'arte, come l'arte trasforma lo spazio (Italy - Brazil)
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Padiglione Italia: Universi dinamici dell'architettura e dei paesaggi
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Festival Architettura: Il Tramonto dell´Alba (Italy - Brazil)
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ITOutOFF: Narciso (Spain)
Calls for proposals at regional level
Liguria
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Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, Bando Starter: Chiare, fresche et dolci acque
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Fondazione Carispezia, Bando Pillole di Cultura - 2025: Le voci dei torrenti
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Wikimedia Italia: Musei archivi biblioteche 2025
Tuscany / Emilia - Romagna
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TIDAL ArtS - Lighthouse Calls - 2025: Clear water, fresh and sweet
Lombardy / Piedmont
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Strategia Fotografia: Slittamenti Performativi. Fotografie di Azioni Sinestetiche
Ministerio de Vivienda y Agenda Urbana, Bando Subvenciones Arquitectura:
City Kaleidoscope
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Deadline: 18 February 2026
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Curator: Maddalena d'Alfonso
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Activity: Francesco Bombardi
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Cultural Partner: Garcés – de Seta – Bonet Arquitectes
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Publisher: Silvana Editoriale
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Selected, pending final evaluation
The City Kaleidoscope project, submitted to the Subvenciones Arquitectura call for proposals promoted by the Spanish Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda (Ministerio de Vivienda y Agenda Urbana), aims to develop a publishing project based on the work of Garcés, de Seta & Bonet, using the metaphor of the kaleidoscope as a key to interpreting the contemporary city. The project seeks to offer a dynamic and plural vision of urban architecture, understood as a constantly evolving space in which forms, perspectives and social dimensions intersect.
The book takes the form of a critical and visual inquiry that, through the analysis of selected projects, highlights the way in which the practice interprets the relationship between public space, context and community, proposing solutions that bring together memory, innovation and sustainability.
Through a dialogue between images, critical texts and contributions from prominent national and international authors, the project aims to highlight the role of architecture as an active cultural practice, capable of generating new urban imaginaries and fostering more conscious and participatory approaches to the creation of public space.
Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, Bando Starter:
Chiare, fresche et dolci acque
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Deadline: 15 July 2025
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Curator: Maddalena d'Alfonso
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Photographers: Marco Introini and Giulia Flavia Baczynski
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Activity: Francesco Bombardi
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Cultural Partners: Booktomi; Associazione Conoscere Sesta Godano e la Val di Vara; Biodistretto Val di Vara
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Strategic Partners: ICAMT – International Committee for Architecture and Museum Techniques (ICOM); Università IUAV di Venezia; University of Ferrara – Department of Humanities
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Selected but not funded
The Clear, Fresh and Sweet Waters project aims to explore, document and symbolically and culturally regenerate the Vara Valley in Liguria through participatory artistic practices and transdisciplinary approaches that place ecological issues, the climate crisis and the need for renewed territorial and social awareness at their core.
Promoted by Display & Design ETS, the project is based on a creative approach combining photography, walking, listening, storytelling and participatory design. It seeks to convey a complex and layered portrait of the territory, offering an integrated cultural response to the environmental, demographic and social transformations affecting Italy’s inland areas.
With its intact yet fragile river ecosystem, the Vara Valley provides an ideal setting for a poetic and scientific exploration of the value of freshwater as a common good. Water is not merely a natural resource to be protected; it becomes a metaphor and a vehicle for relationships, memories, rights and responsibilities.
Inspired by contemporary ecological theories, and in particular by the notion of “sympoiesis” developed by Donna Haraway, the project adopts a relational and interdependent paradigm that encourages co-creation among human beings, the landscape and other species.
Fondazione Carispezia, Bando Pillole di Cultura - 2025:
Le voci dei torrenti
Call for proposals in partnership
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Deadline: 27 June 2025
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Curators: Maddalena d'Alfonso and Marco de Muttis
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Photographers: Giulia Baczynski and Marco Introini
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Environmental Expert: Lorenzo Costa
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Art Historian: Federica Manoli
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Cultural Partner: Display & Design ETS Association
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Selected and funded, but not realised
We are in the inland area of the Province of La Spezia, in the Upper Val di Vara and, more specifically, in the Municipality of Sesta Godano, a setting where landscape, architecture and historical memory intertwine in the Malaspina villages.
The project aims to promote and document this heritage through mapping, photography and storytelling activities focused on the villages, together with the reconstruction of the historical routes and trails that cross the territory.
This work is complemented by the collection of intangible heritage through oral testimonies, folk songs and memories connected to the war and the Resistance. By publishing and sharing these contents online, the project seeks to preserve and disseminate local culture, offering a contemporary and accessible account of the Val di Vara.
TIDAL ArtS - Lighthouse Calls - 2025:
Clear water, fresh and sweet
Call for proposals in partnership
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Deadline: 14 June 2025
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Curators: Maddalena d'Alfonso and Giulia Flavia Baczynski
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Photographer: Giulia Flavia Baczynski
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Cultural Partner: Display & Design ETS Association
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Selected but not funded
We are in the Ligurian hinterland, on the border between Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna, along the Vara River, one of the most pristine river systems in central-western Italy, surrounded by a landscape rich in forests and freshwater.
The artistic project unfolds along the river as a slow, immersive journey through streams, mule tracks and villages, exploring the relationship between water, landscape and memory. Through a site-specific photographic practice grounded in observation and listening, it seeks to convey the complexity and fragility of the territory.
The project also engages with the local community through walks, mapping activities and the collection of testimonies, supported by sustainable production practices and accessible digital documentation.
Italian Council 14th edition - 2025:
Come lo spazio trasforma l'arte, come l'arte trasforma lo spazio
Call for proposals in partnership promoted by Ministero della Cultura (MiC)
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Deadline: 28 April 2025
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Curator: Maddalena d’Alfonso
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Cultural Partners: Escola da Cidade (São Paulo, Brazil); Università IUAV di Venezia; Display & Design Association; Associazione Italia-Brasile; Silvana Editoriale
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Selected but not funded
The project aims to promote the work of curator and essayist Maddalena d’Alfonso, active in the field of modern and contemporary art, by disseminating her research and international exhibition experience, including the exhibition De Chirico, the Feeling of Architecture, presented at leading Brazilian institutions.
At the heart of the proposal is the promotion of the publication How Space Transforms Art | How Art Transforms Space, which explores the changing relationship between space, art and architecture from the avant-garde movements of the 20th century to the present day, offering an accessible perspective for non-specialist audiences as well.
The project aims to foster cultural outreach and dialogue across disciplines, making the languages of contemporary art and architecture more accessible and easier to understand.
Wikimedia Italia:
Musei archivi biblioteche 2025
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Deadline: 1 March 2025
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Curator: Maddalena d'Alfonso
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Cultural Partner: Associazione Conoscere la Val di Vara
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Selected but not funded
The project aims to promote awareness of the landscape, urban and architectural heritage of the Upper Val di Vara, with a particular focus on mapping, photographing, documenting and narrating the Malaspina villages within the Municipality of Sesta Godano, located in the inland area of the Province of La Spezia.
The project also seeks to trace historical routes and walking trails, while collecting and publishing online local folk songs and stories of war and the Resistance through the oral testimonies of local residents.
Strategia Fotografia:
Slittamenti Performativi. Fotografie di Azioni Sinestetiche
Call for proposals in partnership promoted by Ministero della Cultura (MiC)
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Deadline: 28 June 2024
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Curators: Maddalena d'Alfonso and Fortunato D'Amico
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Cultural Partner: Stalker Teatro
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Strategic Partners: Castello di Rivoli – Education Department, Municipality of Busto Arsizio, Italian Institute of Photography
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Selected but not funded
The project Performative Shifts: Photographs of Synesthetic Actions celebrates the 40th anniversary of Stalker Teatro in Turin, a theatre collective founded by Gabriele Boccacini, director, set designer and artist. The theatre company promotes new forms of artistic research through the performing arts and actively engages with the local community.
Three photographers — G. B. Orbassano, D. Pellegrini and M. Introini — each with a distinctive approach, will capture and interpret the theatre’s creative process, sartorial craftsmanship and the internal dynamics of the collective in a photographic exhibition. Through visual narratives, the project will highlight the social impact of these activities. The process will also be documented by artist and video maker Diulio Forte.
A publication is planned, featuring a narrative section exploring the history and creative process of the theatre group. The project establishes collaborations with the Italian Institute of Photography, Castello di Rivoli and the Municipality of Busto Arsizio.
Italy Pavillion:
Universi dinamici dell'architettura e dei paesaggi
Call for proposals in partnership promoted by Ministero della Cultura (MiC)
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Deadline: 10 May 2024
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Curator: Fortunato D'Amico
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Selected but not funded
The Anthropocene, an era marked by climate change, species extinction and ecosystem disruption, calls for a rethinking of the spaces we inhabit and the environments we build.
Architecture transcends its traditional function of creating physical spaces to become an intelligent tool for social transformation. Sustainable architecture is not limited to strategically orienting a building to achieve a significant reduction in its energy consumption.
Four areas of architectural design will therefore be presented, highlighting intelligent projects led by architects to address the systemic vulnerabilities of the Anthropocene through the use of technological, monitoring and digitalisation tools, as well as AI applied to creative practices and to the resolution of complex problems.
Festival Architettura:
Il Tramonto dell´Alba
Call for proposals promoted by Ministero della Cultura (MiC)
The exhibition From Dusk to Dawn explores museum and exhibition architecture, investigating the dynamic relationship between space, artworks and visitors through the staging of a landscape that emerges from the encounter between nature and technology.
Within this environment, the relationship between the artwork and the human being unfolds. The visitor turns their attention towards the artwork, seeking to unveil the mystery of its own existence between past and future.
Italy, home to the largest number of collections and museums in the world, is actively committed to promoting and disseminating culture internationally.
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Deadline: 16 April 2024
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Curator: Maddalena d'Alfonso
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Artist: Patrick Tuttofuoco
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Cultural Partner: Escola da Cidade – Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, São Paulo, Brazil
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Sponsors: Pininfarina Architecture, Aivox, Aerium Chain
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Strategic Partners: Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti (NABA), Università IUAV di Venezia, MAN – Museo d'Arte Provincia di Nuoro, ICOM-ICAMT, Associazione Italia-Brasil
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Selected but not funded
ITOutOFF:
Narciso
Call for proposals promoted by Ministero della Cultura (MiC)
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Deadline: 5 April 2024 (extended to 18 April 2024)
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Curators: Maddalena d'Alfonso and Savina Tarsitano
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Photographer: Marco Introini
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Cultural Partner: Espronceda Institute of Art and Culture, Barcelona
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Selected but not funded
Two curators — an architect engaged in reflecting on historical heritage and its future trajectories, and a curator involved in projects with local communities and in pilot initiatives — bring their perspectives together to create a curatorial project that explores, from a contemporary perspective, the relationship between architectural heritage and ecosystems. Its starting point is Art Nouveau, a movement that successfully brought together technical innovation, scientific knowledge and the observation of the natural world, giving rise to a new idea of cosmopolitan citizenship.
The project unfolds through an interdisciplinary investigation that brings together a range of languages and media: the photography of Marco Introini, the study of architectural and botanical drawings from historical archives, botanical research, video and sound, as well as digital devices and smartphones. An integrated media system orchestrated through the curatorial work of Maddalena d’Alfonso and Savina Tarsitano.