MUSMA — 20° Anniversario

Twenty years of sculpture in the Sassi

MUSMA - Museum of Contemporary Sculpture Matera is one of the most extraordinary places in the city: the only cave museum in the world, created in the underground spaces of the 16th-century Palazzo Pomarici, in the Sasso Caveoso. In 2026, the museum celebrates its twentieth anniversary with an entire annual program, which opens on March 20th, coinciding with the inauguration of Matera Mediterranean Capital of Culture and Dialogue.

"Cambiamento": the collection is reactivated

The heart of the program is "Cambiamento", a project to reactivate the permanent collection that intervenes on three levels — material, conceptual, and spatial. Artists Alberto Timossi, Agnese Purgatorio, and Giovanni Gaggia are called upon for a creative regeneration of the works, creating a dialogue between the museum's heritage and contemporary perspectives.

Residencies, acquisitions, and exhibitions

The twentieth-anniversary calendar includes the residency of Moroccan artist Hassan Echair, who will create the "Atlante Babelico" dedicated to Tétouan — a city twinned with Matera in 2026 — in collaboration with MOON Potenza and Biblioteca Errante. New acquisitions from the Lagorio Collection are also included, featuring an unpublished sculpture by Carlo Levi, and the major temporary exhibition "Nanni Valentini. Volto e Luogo" (September-December 2026), focusing on material heads and faces in dialogue with the local tuff stone.

A museum that looks to the Mediterranean

Telling the story of Italian and international sculpture from the late 19th century to the present day — with sculptures, ceramics, medals, jewelry, drawings, and artist's books — MUSMA celebrates its twentieth anniversary by relaunching its identity as a contemporary art laboratory in the Sassi, in full harmony with the themes of Mediterranean dialogue animating the city in 2026.