Perfomedia – International Performance Art Festival

Perfomedia, international performance art in Syracuse

Perfomedia – International Performance Art Festival is one of the most historic performance art events in Italy, founded in 1980 by the artist and independent curator Emilio Morandi, a key international figure in experimentation between painting, video installation, and performance art. As an itinerant festival, it changes cities with every edition: after stops in Venice (Spazio Tethis) and Warsaw in 2024, the event arrived for the first time in Sicily, in Syracuse, transforming the ancient heart of Ortigia into a living laboratory.

Two days of live action in Ortigia

In the Municipality of Syracuse, in the Province of Syracuse, the Sicilian edition took place across two symbolic locations in the historic center: the Galleria Montevergine Arte Contemporanea, on Via Serafino Privitera, and the Belvedere alla Turba – Bastione Cannamela, overlooking the sea. The curation was entrusted to Marilena Vita, while the organization involved the Galleria Montevergine, the Fabbrika Off cultural association, and Artestudio Morandi, with the patronage of the Municipality of Syracuse and the Sicilian Region.

A vision of performance as a social process

Perfomedia promotes the idea of performance art as a social process and a living relationship between the artist, the audience, the urban space, and collective memory. The performances, often in direct dialogue with passersby and the locations themselves, range from political performance to digital experimentation, and even ritualistic and poetic gestures. The festival brings together international artists from France, Spain, Poland, Serbia, and Italy, in an exchange that makes Ortigia a European crossroads for performance language.

In the spirit of Emilio Morandi

The festival carries forward the theoretical and human legacy of its founder, who passed away recently. The bond with Morandi is not just memory, but method: performance as the persistence of the gesture, as resistance, continuity, and movement. For the city of Syracuse, already famous for its classical heritage and the Greek Theatre, Perfomedia represents a contemporary window that opens Ortigia to the most experimental languages of today's art.

A free event open to all

All actions are free to attend, held in open spaces and galleries in the historic center, designed to be experienced immersively by residents and visitors alike. The dates and content for the 2026 edition have not yet been announced: as it is an itinerant festival, a return to Syracuse is not confirmed.