Founded in 2006, Agorateca is a project by the Divisione eventi e congressi that aims to be a place to share, meet and discover – like the ancient and lively Greek square, Agorà. Agorateca is a multimedia library which collects and makes available for loan and consultation more than 50’000 cultural products (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS, CDs, books and magazines), and at the same time a programme that proposes events focused on discovery: meetings with writers, poets, photographers, journalists, illustrators, musicians, directors; film festivals with a programme that pays as much attention to niche productions as to major titles.
Agorateca combines discovery and sharing. What are the cornerstones of its programme?
The same ones which foster the daily work within the multimedia library: research and curiosity. Borrowing a DVD through dialogue and consultation with those at the service desk or attending one of the many meetings organised over the years with writers, poets, photographers, journalists, illustrators, musicians, directors. The common thread that binds is the same: Agorateca is the square, a window to look out of, to look through, to search through.
The season will start on October 19th. Who are the artists we will meet in the coming months?
We have organised three meetings with three artists from the world of art, photography and photo book in collaboration with Artphilein Editions/Bookstore & Focus, a publishing company dedicated to the production of photographic book and artist’s book. It was founded in 2013 by the director of the Fondazione De Pietri Artphilein, with the aim of actively collaborating with artists in the design, writing and production of artist’s book. This season, together with Vittoria Fregapane and Giulia Brivio, we will meet Veronica Barbato (19.10), Sonia Lenzi (23.11), Pietro Bologna (18.01). The Foce’s programme of meetings is completed with other precious collaborations: Random, Visarte Ticino, Istituto Internazionale di Architettura, Ambasciata italiana in Svizzera among with the Centre Dürrenmatt di Neuchâtel and many others.
The season continues with its traditional film festivals: Club Cult and Cinema in Tasca (Cinema in your pocket). What’s new, this season? What titles have been selected?
Cinema in Tasca (Cinema in your pocket) at Palazzo dei Congressi (6 movies from October to the end of January and 6 movies from February to May) offers the opportunity to watch the big titles of the previous film season on the big screen, touching a wide variety of genres: a pop programme aimed at a varied audience. The Cinema in Tasca programme will be revealed in the coming weeks.
Club Cult this year becomes Original Version, namely niche films screened in the original language with subtitles in an intimate environment – almost like your own living room – at Studio Foce, with popcorn offered at the entrance on Sundays at 17:30. The first movie is Belfast, directed by Kenneth Brannagh set in the ’60s Northern Ireland. Then, it will be the turn of Lunana, movie from Buthan, to move then to Japan with Drive my car, and finally closing the first part of the season with the 2022 documentary Elizabeth, directed by Roger Michell about Elizabeth II.
Few months ago Agorateca launched a new website. What are the main new features?
There are many new features on the Agorateca’s new website: in the news section there are notices, proposals from the catalogue selected by the team and multimedia contents such as the podcast “Gli imperdibili di Agorateca”, radio programme on Radio Ticino, where Agorateca presents a must-see film every week.
In the shop section you will find the catalogue of books and CDs offered for sale by Agorateca Shop, the service that handles all surplus objects which are given a new lease of life by making them available for sale and reaching culture enthusiasts all around the world. The proceeds are then invested in the growth of the Agorateca catalogue. Finally, selections are collected in “pathways”, that explore specific themes at request of the customers or interesting suggestions made by the Agorateca team. The complete catalogue is currently being completed and it can be viewed on the website page.
Agorateca’s new season starts on 19.10 at 18:30 at the Studio Foce, for a meeting with artist Veronica Barbato curated by Artphilein.
More information: agorateca.ch
