Meeting 2020: A tour of the exhibitions and performances

They have always been amongst the pillars of the Rimini Meeting. This year there will be no lack of performances and exhibitions, taking place both online and physically. In reduced form, yes, but certainly not in content.
Paola Ronconi

This year’s special edition will also be special for the exhibitions that at the Meeting have always been an immediate and appreciated way to develop the theme of that year. There will only be four: two completely virtual and two that can also be visited physically in Rimini's Palacongressi.

Can we speak of wonder or amazement in the face of the harshness of reality, particularly in front of what we have lived (and are living) during these months? Does life have a meaning? And death? Can we stand as men in front of everything that happens? The relationship with reality: this is the most open question. In Fr. Giussani's book The Religious Sense, chapter 10, "How the Ultimate Questions Arise: The Way of the Religious Sense", is the starting point from which about a hundred Italian and non-Italian university students, guided by philosopher Carmine Di Martino, decided to propose the exhibition "Living Reality", a journey through literature, art, music, poetry and cinema. It will be possible to see the exhibition both physically at the Palacongressi in Rimini and virtually on the Meeting’s platform.

A tour of a previous exhibition at the Meeting

It was July 31, 1954 when Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli first reached K2’S 8611 meter summit, and it was July 26, 2014 when the Pakistani climbers succeeded, accompanied by Italians Michele Cucchi and Simone Origone, forming a friendship between the two peoples. The 2020 Meeting will take us to the summit through the exhibition “We are on the top! The summit of K2 and the faces of a community”, right there, on the "roof of the world", the second highest peak but the most challenging in terms of danger and difficulty, according to Rehinold Messner. A virtual tour, divided into five different spaces, will allow you to retrace the different stages of the climb from the base camps thanks to audio and video content.

The "wonder" of the Meeting’s title is particularly important for the exhibition "Living Being", curated by Associazione Euresis and Camplus. Konrad Lorenz, a great connoisseur of the animal world and founder of modern scientific ethology, claimed that "the truth is not only beautiful but it is full of mystery and you do not need to give yourself to mysticism to live wonderful adventures." Everything that is alive, from the unicellular bacterium to the variety of animal and vegetable species, up to man, has an extraordinary complexity, it is under everyone's eyes. But the fact that this complexity is also given by the profound relational nature of every form of life is a less evident aspect, which the exhibition wants to underline: a "needy freedom", an antithesis between autonomy and dependence, so evident in man but present in every form of life.

In 2016, the Meeting hosted an exhibition that talked about the work of Piacenti Spa in Prato, a company that had restored the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem using uncommon techniques and craftsmanship. This year "Bethlehem reborn" (curated by Mariella Carlotti, Alessandro Fichera, Taisir Masrieh Hasbun, Tommaso Santi) recounts another aspect of those works that lasted more than a decade: how the new archaeological excavations during the restoration have brought to light not only the original beauty of the Basilica, but also the history of devotion to the oldest place in Christendom.

NB: during the week, as detailed in the program, there will also be various meetings in which the curators will talk more extensively about the themes of the exhibitions. These can be followed by booking the various webinars on the Meeting’s website.

A short excursus also amongst the performances, which will also take place in a special manner. Tat'jana Kasatkina, director of the Research Center "Dostoevsky and World Culture" at the Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, will open the series of proposals of the week in Rimini presenting Dostoevsky’s The Dream of a Ridiculous Man (Tuesday, August 18) starring actor Mario Sala (adaptation by Fausto Malcovati and Mario Sala).

"A season to remember" (August 19) will see the participation of Brunori SAS, Malika Ayane and Francesco Gabbani who, amongst songs and words, will talk about this unique year with Michele Brambilla, director of the QN-Quotidiano Nazionale, and with Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna, who will also pay homage to the 80th birthday of Francesco Guccini.

On Thursday, August 20, the first instalment (the second will be on Friday, August 21) of the webinar "A story of wonder", with the participation of the International Musical Friendship with over 100 young musicians from Germany, Poland, Russia, Latvia, Austria, Switzerland and Italy. The 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth will also be marked by a concert in Rimini, collaboration with Spirto Gentil, by Maestro Giulio Giurato.

Read also - Meeting 2020: What awaits us

A tribute to Federico Fellini in his hometown Rimini, on the centenary of his birth, on August 21, will see journalist Francesca Fabbri Fellini, the Maestro's last heir, in dialogue with Giuseppe Tornatore, Sergio Rubini, Nicola Piovani, Matteo Garrone, Liana Orfei, Pupi Avati, Emir Kusturica, Carlo Verdone and other personalities from the world of cinema. To close the Meeting, on the evening of Saturday, August 22, a final performance led by the actor and comedian Gioele Dix.

All the info and details on schedules, reservations and how to follow the events are available on the Meeting’s website.