Organized by the Associazione Archeofuturo since 2018, In-ruins is a residency program dedicated to exploring the potential of the intersection between contemporary art and archaeology through the temporary placement of artists, curators, and researchers near monumental sites in Calabria and Southern Italy. In-ruins reimagines the territory through its past, transforms ancient ruins into meeting places, and brings the urgent and contemporary experimentation of international creatives to the heart of marginal territories. Rooted in a southern and Mediterranean mindset, the project aims to highlight not only the archaeological heritage but also the traditions, myths, and stories of the very communities that have always safeguarded it.
This year we will follow routes suggested by ancient geographies rather than modern maps. The program will take place for the first time outside the borders of Calabria and will arrive in Basilicata, which shares past and present destinies with the former.

This year, In-ruins finds its way in Apulia for the first time. After the editions in Calabria and Basilicata, the project does not revolve around a defined archaeological site, but instead unfolds across an entire city: Canosa di Puglia. Here, archaeology permeates the urban fabric – it is fragmented, often subterranean. A submerged geography that transforms the city into a constellation of buried places, undermining the very notion of a “site.” We also shift, for the first time, from the Ionian to the Adriatic shore: beyond the canonical boundaries attributed to Magna Graecia. This displacement expands not only the geographical scope, but the conceptual one as well.

Immersion in such a stratified landscape becomes possible through the strategic collaboration with Fondazione Elpis and the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio for the provinces of Foggia and BAT, the hospitality of the Municipality of Canosa, the patronage with contribution of Fondazione Archeologica Canosina, and of Fondazione Italia Patria della Bellezza. This synergy opens the doors to rarely accessible spaces, allowing the residency to become a genuine field investigation – also thanks to the scientific collaboration of the Art-Heritage-Archeology Network (AHA) at UCL, London, and the Inter-University School of Specialization in Archaeological Heritage of the Universities of Bari and Foggia.

The 2025 program hosted 5 residents:

Balam Bartolomé (Mexico)
Steffi Stouri (Greece)
Benedetta Fioravanti (Italy)
Giuseppe Di Liberto (Italy)
Xenia Benivolski (Canada)

Selected from over 350 applications from across the world by an international jury of experts: Vincenzo Estremo (Art Writer and PhD Course Leader, NABA, Milan), Chiara Marino (Director, Richard Saltoun Gallery, Rome), Sofia Schubert (Head of Exhibitions and Artists-in-residency program, Fondazione Elpis, Milan), Ibrahim Nehme (Director, Beirut Arts Center).