Italy participated in the first “Biennale of Luanda: Pan-African Forum for the Culture of Peace”, promoted by UNESCO in partnership with the African Union and the Government of Angola. The aim of the event was to contribute to the promotion of the “culture of peace” in Africa. The Forum was attended by 12 African countries and by two non-African countries: Italy and Brazil. The event was sponsored by ENI.
Italy set up its own pavilion, designed by architect Claudio Di Curzio and built with the collaboration of the Italian artisan Alessandro Bacchiocchi, at the Fortaleza de São Miguel which hosted the event. The pavilion celebrates the history of Italian-Angolan cooperation, from the first missionaries to the social programs of ENI, and it illustrates the welcome that Italy has been giving to hundreds of thousands of Africans every day for years. The Italian pavilion is a true jewel in the crown, it stands out for its beauty compared to the others and it also enhances the work done in recent years to promote Italian design in Angola.
On the one hand, the Biennale hosted the “Festival of Cultures”, a large international festival in which all the invited countries presented cultural initiatives as a vehicle for the encounter of cultures in the spirit of the “culture of peace” that the organizers intended to promote. As part of the “Festival of Cultures” numerous cultural events were organized with artists who have came specifically from Italy for theater, cinema, classical music, pop and folkloric initiatives. Musical performances included the percussionist Giovanni Lo Cascio and the concert of the mandolinists of the Hathor Plectrum Quartet. A concert was held by the “Kapossoka” Street Children Orchestra, crowning a historic collaboration, sponsored by the Italian Embassy, with Maestro Lorenzo Turchi-Floris, assisted by Master Fabrizia Pandimiglio. In the food and wine field, there was a tasting of Italian food, while for the theater, shows were organized such as “Diversity: a Journey or an Encounter?” And “Leonardo: the Occult Work”, (both directed by the director Gianluca Barbadori) . This latter show, along with an exhibition on Leonardo da Vinci, commemorated the 500th anniversary of the death of the great Italian genius. Finally, a cycle of Italian and Brazilian films were screened. All the cultural initiatives were made possible thanks to the extraordinary financing plan “Living according to the Italian lifestyle”.
On the other hand, the Biennale represented a unique opportunity for discussing issues that are crucial to the Continent’s future and for bringing together actors and partners of the Pan-African movement for the culture of peace (governments, civil society, scientific community and artists, private sector, International and media organizations). The issues on the agendas of the numerous thematic panels included: the role of education, culture and sport in promoting a culture of peace, preventing conflicts over natural resources, the reality of refugees and displaced persons, young people and entrepreneurship, combating discrimination and xenophobia, the role of African diasporas in the world and the role of women, both as a vulnerable group in armed conflicts and as “agents of peace”. The discussions and debates of the “Biennale” are structured within the following framework of Forums: Forum of partners, Forum of Ideas, Forum of Women, Youth Forum and the “Festival of Cultures”.
