ROMA - The Road to Contemporary Art from 2nd to 5th April 2009, is back in Rome: it's the second edition of the international Art Fair making the Eternal City to an open- air museum with its rich schedule of exhibitions and events, where today the artistic heritage of the ancient world meets the trends and cultural contaminations of the present.
The exhibition venues are seven, they all are in monumental places, located across the historical centre of Rome: Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Palazzo Venezia, Palazzo Rospigliosi, the Markets of Traiano, the Adrian's Temple, Palazzo Barberini, the Complesso Monumentale di Santo Spirito in Sassia for The Fair, Stargate - with the galleries over the seventh year of activity which are going to consolidate the initial experimentations - Startup for the young galleries which are three years old and younger.
Five exhibitions, differentiating concepts and proposals. Things you never saw II, curated by Achille Bonito Oliva investigates possession, taste and anthropology of artists, while the programme of exhibitions and cultural research coordinated by Danilo Eccher, involves several young curators.
Just in the dark by Cecilia Canziani and Andrea Viliani opens towards video experiments and light box photography; Mediterranean, by Elena Lydia Scipioni, looks at a young creativity source coming from the Mediterranean area; No Safety Net by Lorenzo Benedetti and Caroline Corbetta emphasizes linguistic contaminations and formal hazards. Academy of the Academies by Shara Wasserman offers a unique occasion to come to know the commitment and the activities of the Foreign Academies in Rome as well as their residency programmes. Finally, Rolling Stones at Santo Spirito presents a marathon of speeches given by 40 young curators, who address up-to-date artistic subjects.

The Freaky Friday takes place again - thanks to the positive experience of the Art Weekend in the last fall - on Friday 3 April from 9.30 pm onwards: A non-stop appointment open to the public, for all the galleries and the exhibition spaces in the city with openings, cocktails and meeting with artists.

The heart of it all is ROMA, the art fair, which divides 61 international galleries into 3 sections:
-THE FAIR, at Palazzo delle Esposizioni and at Palazzo Venezia, which is dedicated to established contemporary art galleries;
- STARGATE, at Palazzo delle Esposizioni and at Palazzo Venezia, which is reserved to the young galleries, working with up-and-coming artists and realizing experimental projects on the new art languages.
- STARTUP, in the Complesso Monumentale di Santo Spirito in Sassia, hosting younger galleries which have been invited and selected by a group of curators.

Alongside of the art fair, five exhibition which have been organized and managed by ROMA:
Things you never saw II, curated by Achille Bonito Oliva, on display at Palazzo Barberini, is dedicated to works from private collections of artists and it investigates the artists' choices, taste and sensations linked to the possession of works made by their colleagues. Thanks to a friendly concession made by Soprintendenza per il Polo Museale di Roma and the Direction of Palazzo Barberini, the entrance ticket to ROMA Contemporary will allow to visit also the Galleria Nazionale d' Arte Antica di Palazzo Barberini.

Academy of the Academies, curated by Shara Wasserman, at the Tempio di Adriano, encompasses in one place all the Foreign Academies operating in Rome in the field of visual arts, with a residency programme for artists. This way, the audience will have the chance to understand how great and relevant is the work these institutions are making for the promotion of artists from their countries and how present Italy might be in the International art scene. A journey through information, films, installations, discussions, atmospheres and the works by the current resident artists of the Academies framed by an exceptional place: the Tempio di Adriano.

Three exhibitions and one event, devoted to themes and experiences of young curators, are coordinated by Danilo Eccher in different venues.
- Just in the Dark, curated by Cecilia Canziani and Andrea Viliani, at the Mercati di Traiano, shows works realized with video materials and light boxes to be on display in the rooms of the Via Biberatica and in the shops of the hemicycle underneath.
- Mediterranean, curated by Elena Lydia Scipioni, at Palazzo Rospigliosi focuses on young creativity within the Mediterranean area, in order give voice to the new territories of investigation in the arts and to unbeknown experimentations. Croatia, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Libanon, Israel, Egypt and also Spain, Provençal France and Southern Italy testify a very complex and vital geographic area.
- Senza Rete, a cura di Lorenzo Benedetti e Caroline Corbetta, a Santo Spirito in Sassia, fa il punto sulle ricerche più giovani e sperimentali, con attenzione alle contaminazioni linguistiche e agli azzardi formali. Un invito a sciogliere la propria curiosità negli ambiti più disparati, nelle ricerche più estreme, ai confini delle arti.
- No Safety Net, curated by Lorenzo Benedetti and Caroline Corbetta at Santo Spirito in Sassia, emphasizes the research of younger and more experimental artists paying attention to the linguistic contaminations and the formal hazards. An invitation to free our curiosity in the most various realms, in the most extreme research fields, at the last frontier of the arts.
- Rolling Stones, at Santo Spirito in Sassia is a ‘non-stop' session of critics on the themes and perspectives of contemporary art now, coordinated by Danilo Eccher. In its frame work, 40 young Italian curators are going to alternate every hour, for the whole duration of the fair, presenting their experiences and the themes they see as the most up-to-date.

The catalogues documenting ROMA 2009 are six and they are published by arte'm, Naples: One volume is dedicated to the art fair including all three sections THE FAIR, STARGATE and STARTUP, one is dedicated to each one of the exhibitions coordinated by Danilo Eccher, one to the show Things you never saw II, curated by Achille Bonito Oliva and the last one is dedicated to Academy of the Academies.

All venues of ROMA are connected by a free shuttle service from April 2 through 5 (every 15 minutes in front of the entrance, please show the ticket to step in).

Central Press Office                                                   Press office
Alessandra Santerini mob. 335/6853767           of Camilla Morabito                         
alessandra.santerini@alice.it                                    Tel. 06.3236254  Mob. 335/7444219       
with Elena Casadoro mob. 334/8602 488          Monia Innocenti - Flaminia Casucci
elena.casadoro@gmail.com                             info@equa.it                                                                                                                  
All information on ROMA are available at www.romacontemporary.it