SUPERNOVA is a site-specific three year art experiment, exhibition and cultural space. It will burn brightly for three years and then will explode and disappear, hopefully leaving behind something new. Its location in the Piazza of Santa Maria in Trastevere, also provides its purpose.
Piazzas — the brightest stars — are the model of social inclusion and human interaction. They bind cultural connections and, perhaps, even provide a key to understanding ourselves and the natural world through empathy. At their worst, they can be a black hole of mass consumerism, technological vice, despair and violence. The Piazza of Santa Maria in Trastevere, the site of an ancient miracle, hangs in the balance between the two.
Twelve major shows will explore the piazza over the course of three years, organized by the collective, invited curators, and international artists. Ongoing events, exhibits, and dialogues will use the piazza to reimagine the link between natural and social systems. We believe these two spheres are inseparable, and we invite artists to offer an expanded understanding of how we might address this moment’s most pressing challenges and opportunities through art.
Nothing will be bought or sold, as the project is more cultural than it is commercial. But if all goes well, Supernova will spark intellectual richness, community awareness, and — possibly through another miracle — empathy. Born from a collective that reflects the neighbourhood and the world, this is both a community-based and global-reaching project. It is at once extremely local and international, accessible yet worldly, open yet challenging. Ultimately, it serves as a reminder that we are interconnected to one another and the natural world that sustains us.