The Italo–Latin American Hub is launched in Venice through a new collaboration between the International Italo-Latin American Organization (IILA) and Venice International University (VIU).
On Thursday, May 7 at 9:30 a.m., Venice International University will host a high-level institutional session marking the launch of a strategic alliance between Italy-Latin-America Instute (IILA) and VIU. At its core is a shared vision: to recognize and enhance the contribution of contemporary Latin American creativity not only in the field of the arts, but as an active part of global knowledge production.
The meeting on May 7, scheduled to take place on the island of San Servolo, will bring together institutional representatives, curators, artists, and cultural operators from Italy and Latin America, with the aim of strengthening Italy’s role as a platform for dialogue and international projection for the cultures of Latin America, and of building a stable space for cooperation between the arts, research, and education.
The opening remarks will be delivered by Ambassador Umberto Vattani, President of Venice International University, Hon. Giorgio Silli, Secretary General of IILA, and Claudia Barattini, Cultural Secretary of IILA and promoter of the initiative.
Among the scheduled speakers are Gerardo Mosquera, one of the most authoritative voices in the international debate on contemporary Latin American art, and Gabi Scardi, curator and art critic with extensive experience in designing exhibitions and cultural programs at an international level.
This meeting, originating from the initiative of Hon. Giorgio Silli and Ambassador Umberto Vattani, will strengthen IILA’s collaboration with VIU, also with the aim of encouraging the participation of a Latin American university in Venice International University, which currently includes 23 universities and research centers from various parts of the world.
At the end of the meeting, the artistic project Ulysses’ Gates will be presented. Conceived by Umberto Vattani and created by Filippo Gregoretti, Hiroaki Kitano, and Vittorio Loreto, it explores a dialogue between art, science, and generative technologies. The project makes perceptible what normally remains invisible: the ongoing relationship between the advancing sea, the resisting city, and the technology that intervenes to protect Venice without permanently separating it from the sea.
The project will be presented on Friday, May 8 at 10:30 a.m. at Caffè Paradiso, Giardini della Biennale, Venice.
The Italo–Latin American Hub is conceived as a mechanism for connection and coordination aimed at overcoming the fragmentation of Latin American presence in major international contexts, promoting a shared platform capable of generating continuity, visibility, and impact.
In an international context marked by profound transformations, the initiative reaffirms the value of art and culture as spaces of freedom, critical thought, and knowledge production, and relaunches the role of IILA as a platform for cultural cooperation between Italy and Latin America.
