Thanks to funding from the Tuscany Region through the FSE+ 2021–2027 programme supporting employment in cultural heritage and contemporary art, FACT – Centro per l’arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci launches the first edition of SUPERTOSCANA, a research and production residency project open to 20 artists and curators under the age of 36.
The project is developed in collaboration with several institutions across the Tuscan region: Archivio Vittorio Giorgini – Ba.Co., Baratti; Casa Masaccio Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea, Municipality of San Giovanni Valdarno; Fondazione Magazzini Generali, Livorno; mudaC | museo delle arti Carrara, Municipality of Carrara; and Siena Art Institute, Siena.
Inspired by the radical vision of the Florentine collective SUPERSTUDIO, the residency offers an opportunity to reconsider the relationship between living beings (human and non-human), urban and natural landscapes, and technological development. SUPERTOSCANA engages with ecological, decolonial, and queer dynamics, as well as with group work and collective practices as contemporary tools for rethinking the image of the natural landscape and rewriting our relationship with the commons, also in dialogue with productive activities and craftsmanship, with the aim of tracing unexpected narratives.
The project, coordinated by Michele Bertolino, consists of residencies structured as opportunities for training, research, and production. The open call provides 20 residency grants, divided into two 7-month cycles, for a total of 14 artists and 6 curators under the age of 36 (7 artists and 3 curators per cycle). Both cycles address key issues in contemporary debate: practices of ecological sustainability, the relationship between art, territories, and communities, and the role of civic engagement from a transdisciplinary perspective. At the end of each cycle, a group exhibition curated by the participants and the production of a catalogue are planned.
Each residency cycle includes: 2 months of interdisciplinary training in Prato, featuring lectures, workshops, and laboratories with professionals from the contemporary art system; 3 months of residency at the host partner institutions, where residents will produce new work or further develop their research; and a final 2 months in Prato dedicated to curatorial planning for an exhibition, the development of the public programme, and the production of the catalogue.
The first cycle
Developed in collaboration with Fondazione Magazzini Generali in Livorno, Ba.Co., Baratti, and Siena Art Institute in Siena, the first cycle investigates the relationship between environment and urban landscape. It offers an opportunity to explore transformations of the landscape through ecological, social, and political perspectives. The aim is to define non-stereotypical narratives of the contemporary Tuscan landscape, reflect on the dynamics of overtourism, and examine practices related to active citizenship and the protection of the commons. The residency will take place between April and November 2026.
The second cycle
Developed in collaboration with Fondazione Magazzini Generali in Livorno, Casa Masaccio in San Giovanni Valdarno, and MudaC, Carrara, the second cycle provides an opportunity to reflect on Tuscan human and productive geography, starting from its manufacturing history. The focus is on the relationship between art, enterprise, and territory, with particular attention to artisanal knowledge and the construction of new cultural narratives in the host areas. The residency will take place between June 2026 and February 2027.