The Fiumara d’Arte in Tusa: a open-air museum

The “Fiumara d’Arte”, born from the project of Antonio Presti in 1982, is a open-air museum that includes numerous works of contemporary art, arranged along the path of the river Tusa, now reduced to a torrent. After the loss of his father, Antonio Presti commissioned Pietro Consagra a work entitled “The matter could not exist” inaugurated in 1986, with the will to donate it to the community, thus laying the foundations for the “Fiumara d’Arte”. The sculpture of Pietro Consagra is 18 meters high and consists of two parallel elements in black and white reinforced concrete. From this moment, the museum was enriched with 10 works of art that were included in the itinerary of the “Fiumara” in the strict sense. The works are placed at different distances, some are closer and others less. The path, which allows you to observe them closely, usually starts from the hotel “Atelier sul mare”, built a few years after the opening of the art park and often housed by the artists themselves. During the nineties, the works in the museum increased, including works by international artists such as Hidetoshi Nagasawa and Raùl Ruiz. However, the museum also includes temporary installations. It is also open to other arts, not only sculpture but also photography, with numerous events that animate the places of the “Fiumara”, with interest in the most diverse themes including those related to society and the environment. The open-air museum is still enriched with various installations, among the last ones, “Il bosco incantato” realized by Umberto Leone and Ute Pyka, and “Il cavallo eretico” realized by the artist Antonello Bonanno Conti, both installed in 2020. Despite the legal disputes of abusiveness, lasted for many years, today the Fiumara d’arte of Tusa is one of the greatest testimonies of communion between art and nature, between beauty and social commitment.