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Vaste Programme is an artistic duo founded in 2017 by Giulia Vigna (Latina, 1992) and Leonardo Magrelli (Rome, 1989). Their research focuses primarily on climate change and the use of technology by the mass public, both explored through their presence in the iconosphere. Images and photography are central to their practice, which they approach through post-photographic and installation-based methods, using strategies of appropriation, re-signification, détournement, and quotation—often with a layer of bitter irony. Their work has been exhibited in numerous institutions and art spaces, including: FMAV – Fondazione Modena Arti Visive, Modena (IT, 2024); Italian Cultural Institute, London (UK, 2024); Real Collegio, Lucca (IT, 2024); Palazzo Reale, Milan (IT, 2023); Mattatoio, Rome (IT, 2023); Manifattura Tabacchi, Florence (IT, 2023); CAMERA – Italian Centre for Photography, Turin (IT, 2023); Museo Civico G. Fattori, Livorno (IT, 2023); Palazzo Lucarini, Trevi (IT, 2023); Spazio In Situ, Rome (IT, 2023); Fondazione smART, Rome (IT, 2022); Galleria 1/9unosunove, Rome (IT, 2022); Viaraffineria, Catania (IT, 2021); Fondazione Francesco Fabbri, Pieve di Soligo (IT, 2021); Polycopies, Paris (FR, 2021); Chiostri di San Domenico, Reggio Emilia (IT, 2021); Palazzo Baldelli, Cortona (IT, 2021); Etherea Gallery, Genoa (IT, 2021); Musei Civici Eremitani, Padua (IT, 2020); Unseen, Amsterdam (NL, 2019); and Odessa Museum (UA, 2019). They have published two books: The Long Way Home of Ivan Putnik, Truck Driver (The Eriskay Connection, 2021) and How to Make Jam (Witty Books, 2022).
Miglionico stands on a hill between the Bradano River and the Basento River, in the heart of eastern Basilicata, in the province of Matera. The village is dominated by the Castello del Malconsiglio, one of the oldest in the region, known for hosting the famous Barons’ Conspiracy against King Ferdinand I of Aragon. Its privileged position offers views over the Lucanian landscape and the San Giuliano Nature Reserve, which extends along the right bank of the Bradano River and the homonymous lake, an integral part of the municipal territory.
The legendary origins of the village are intertwined with the figure of Milon—famous athlete of ancient Croton and celebrated Olympic victor multiple times as a wrestling champion at the Olympic Games—who is said to have founded the city. According to another version, it was Milon of Taranto, lieutenant of Pyrrhus, who, arriving on the hills between the Bradano and the Basento, founded a military colony naming it Miglionico. Milon had great walls built, as the phrase "Milo Magnus Miles Me Munivit Magnis Muris" recalls, whose seven Ms are today represented in the town’s coat of arms.
The historic center holds the Mother Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, a Pontifical Basilica since 1051, housing an impressive polyptych by Cima da Conegliano (1499) and a wooden Crucifix from 1629 by Umile da Petralia, which inspired Mel Gibson for the film The Passion of the Christ, filmed in Matera.
Roberta Mansueto is an independent curator and activist in the conservation of plant biodiversity. From 2014 to 2019, she co-founded Tile project space (Milan), a space for research and promotion of contemporary art, and she is the creator of several independent initiatives, such as takecare, a project that investigates the practice of writing, between performative research and independent publishing, and Orto Fertile, a collective focused on researching and preserving ethnobotanical knowledge in Puglia. Since 2020, she has been co-founder of Salgemma, a curatorial and communication project based in Puglia, dedicated to enhancing and promoting artistic and cultural research within the region. For Una Boccata d’Arte in Basilicata, she curated projects by artists Hanne Lippard in Grottole (2022), Arianna Pace in Rivello (2023), Giulio Locatelli in Sasso di Castalda (2024).