Tag Archives: Denise Bernabe

Slow Art Day Across Generations at MART, Italy

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For their fourth Slow Art Day, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto (MART) in Italy, hosted a slow looking event aimed at creating a multi-generational experience.

Denise Bernabè, the Membership Coordinator at MART, selected five pieces from the Galleria Civica di Trento, the museum’s venue for temporary exhibitions and a hub for local Trentino artists. These works are part of the exhibit titled “Allegoria della Felicità Pubblica” (“Allegory of Public Happiness”), featuring pieces by Maurizio Nannucci, Diango Hernandez and Nan Goldin. The selected artworks were sent to participants via email a few days ahead of Slow Art Day, so that they could take their time and contemplate them slowly on their own in advance.

Participants engaging with Maurizio Nannucci’s “Moving Between Different Opportunities and Open Singularities,” 2017-2018
Participants engaging with Anna Esposito’s “Prima e dopo il concerto,” 1982
Participants engaging with “Tired Stop” by Diango Hernàndez, 2008

On Slow Art Day, participants were divided into two groups, each guided by a coordinator who engaged them in conversation about the artworks. They re-titled the works based on what each group felt they should be named and assigned scores from 0 to 5 based on the level of emotion evoked and aesthetic pleasure. They also discussed if they would put the artwork in their own home.

Further to make the inter-generational conversation work, an old “Amico del Museo” (literally ‘friend of the museum’), who is a professor at the University of Enology in San Michele all’Adige, brought a group of students to join Slow Art Day. These students were then invited them to engage with their “Amici del Museo” (lit. ‘friends of the museum’), mainly made up of older participants.

Discussions between and across generations were inspiring, and many said that they enjoyed the experience.

“Slow Art allows me to truly see the artworks, to see them through my own eyes. I visit so
many museums that I often walk through the galleries without really looking. But Slow Art
reminded me that artworks have meanings, even if there are multiple interpretations. It’s
my task as an art advocate to capture at least a couple of those meanings.”

MARIAGRAZIA, Slow Art Day participant


“What I appreciate about Slow Art is the opportunity it gives me to listen to different
opinions, often enriching my own understanding of the artwork. It sparks discussions and
inspires me. I’ve also noticed that I’m now influenced by slow looking even when I visit
other museums on my own.”

GIUSEPPE, Slow Art Day participant

Slow Art has become a well-established practice at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Rovereto and Trento (MART). Every month since 2020, a selection of artworks is presented to the Friends of the Museum (“Amici del Museo”), MART’s Members. They view the artworks together and share their perspectives both online and in person.

At Slow Art Day HQ we are always excited to hear about events at MART and how they continue to engage the wider community of museum members, including across generations, in slow looking activities throughout the year as well as for Slow Art Day itself.

We can’t wait to see what they come up with for Slow Art Day 2025.

– Johanna, Ashley, Jessica Jane, and Phyl

Slow Art and Slow Food Come Together in Italy

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For their third Slow Art Day, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto (MART), Italy organized a two-stage event in collaboration with a local Slow Food collective, which specializes in cheese, jam, wine and bread.

For the first-stage, MART invited the Slow Food producers to a private event in order to experience slow looking with the works of art shown below.

  • “Spiralando sull’Arena di Verona”, by Renato Di Bosso, 1935 (from the permanent collection)
  • “L’incantesimo dell’amore e la primavera della vita” by Galileo Chini, 1914 (from the temporary exhibition on Klimt and Italian Art)

“Spiralando sull’Arena di Verona”, by Renato Di Bosso. 1935.
Left panel detail from “L’incantesimo dell’amore e la primavera della vita” by Galileo Chini. 1914.
Right panel detail from “L’incantesimo dell’amore e la primavera della vita” by Galileo Chini. 1914.
Visitors looking at “L’incantesimo dell’amore e la primavera della vita” by Galileo Chini (1914) for Slow Art Day at MART 2023

For the second stage held about a week later, MART invited the public to the same slow looking experience with the same works of art.

This time, however, the Slow Food producers held a food tasting afterwards that featured foods they chose to pair with the art based on things like color and emotion. During the tasting, the Slow Food collective talked about their choices in the pairings.

Wow! What a great design for Slow Art Day.

We encourage museums around the world to do something similar: partner with a local Slow Food organization.

Slow Art collaboration with Slow Food at MART 2023
Slow Food tasting as part of MART’s Slow Art Day 2023

Not surprisingly, the MART hosts (Monica Sperandio, Social Media Representative, and Denise Bernabe, Membership Coordinator), reported that the event was a success on all fronts:

We were very satisfied with the experience and the collaboration as Slow Art and Slow Food have very similar ethics and visions, and we were able to combine two different but similar pleasures of life such as art and quality food.

Monica Sperandio

At Slow Art Day HQ, we love the partnership with Slow Food.

We (one of us is based in Italy) hope to visit MART in the future, and get a chance to see and taste the art and food ourselves.

And, of course, we are eager to see what unique design MART comes up with for Slow Art Day 2024.

-Johanna, Ashley, Jessica Jane and Phyl

P.S. Stay up to date with upcoming events at MART via their Instagram and Facebook pages.

What’s in a Name? Titles and Emotions at MART

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On April 10th, the Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto (MART) in Rovereto, Italy, organized a virtual Slow Art Day event that focused on re-titling artworks based on participants’ emotional experiences of slow looking.

Images of three artworks from the MART collection were emailed to the 15 registered participants ahead of joining a Zoom session. Once in the virtual session, participants were given 45 minutes to look slowly at three artworks. They then split into 3 discussion groups, each led by a coordinator, that focused on the emotions and observations of the participants while viewing the works. Participants were then asked to give each artwork their own title based on emotions experienced during the slow looking. The day after the session, participants were sent a brief profile of each artwork that included the emotional titles, the actual title, and the name of the artist, date, and art movement.

Below is one of the artworks along with a word cloud of the emotional titles given by the participants. Some of these translate to: “Disgust”, “Towards tomorrow?”, “Artist’s self-portrait”, “Who am I?”.

Arnulf Rainer, Splitter, 1971
Pastel and oil on photography, cm 60,5 x 50,5, Mart
Titles assigned to the artwork by the participants.

The event was well recieved by all the attendees, with one participant commenting:

“See how this way of following art stimulates a lot of creativity in us. Beautiful. We are like amateur jazz improvisers, extemporizing on a score!”

Participant Quote

That’s right. Slow looking is like jazz improvisation. We love this design of MART’s first official Slow Art Day event and hope that others decide to copy this.

Note that their Slow Art Day was not their first slow looking series. In 2020, local art enthusiast and MART member Piero Consolati approached Denise Bernabe, the Membership Coordinator at MART, about the possibility of organizing slow art sessions. Thanks to their initiative, MART has hosted nine slow art sessions since May 2020, which are now held monthly at the museum (so far, mostly virtually).

At Slow Art Day HQ we are delighted that slow looking has become a staple activity for the MART Museum. Denise Bernabe and Piero Consolati share updates with us about the status of slow art at MART throughout the year.

We look forward to MART’s continued events throughout the year, and their celebration of Slow Art Day in 2022.

– Johanna, Jessica and Ashley

Experimental Slow Looking Session with MART in Italy

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The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Rovereto and Trento (MART), Italy, hosted its first experimental Slow Art Day session via Zoom.

The virtual session was attended by a select group of MART members who discussed 4 artworks from the museum’s permanent collection, including Osvaldo Licini’s Bilico (1933) and Fortunato Depero’s Chiesa di Lizzana (1923).

Osvaldo Licini, Bilico, 1933. Part of the Augusto and Francesca Giovanardi Collection: “La Magnifica Ossessione”, MART.
Fortunato Depero, Chiesa di Lizzana (Lizzana), 1923, MART, Fondo Depero. Photo: MART Photographic Archive and Media Library.

Five days before the session, Denise Bernabe, Membership Coordinator at MART, emailed participants images of the artworks along with a brief explanation of slow looking (without disclosing the artists or the titles of the works).

During the hour and a half session, Bernabe facilitated a relaxed discussion in which participants made personal and emotional remarks about the artworks based solely on their immediate slow-looking responses. All participants loved the experience and, as a direct result of this session, the MART is planning to continue integrating slow-looking with future events.

The event was instigated by local art enthusiast Piero Consolati, who has been a MART member for several years and frequently participates in museum events. The session was made possible through his interest in slow looking, which prompted him to approach the staff at MART about hosting an event.

Public engagement with both art and museums is something that Slow Art Day strongly promotes, and the MART event is a beautiful example of the important role art enthusiasts can play in initiating events and furthering the slow art movement throughout the community. At Slow Art Day HQ, we are very excited to hear about the MART’s slow-looking Zoom session, and are thankful to Consolati for reaching out to us with the details.

We look forward to hearing about future slow looking events hosted by MART — hopefully also for Slow Art Day 2021.

– Johanna