L'Aquila will welcome a large group work by JR

L’Aquila is preparing to host a new edition of Inside Out - The People’s Art Project by JR, the global art project conceived byFrench artist JR. The initiative will directly involve citizens and local communities as part of the path for L’Aquila Italian Capital of Culture 2026.

The Inside Out action, led by ArtsFor, will bring the participatory public art project to the Abruzzo capital: more than 2,000 citizens of L’Aquila and surrounding areas will be invited to take an active part through meetings, dialogues and moments of sharing that will culminate in the creation of their photographic portraits. The participants’ photographs will later be turned into large black-and-white posters that will be posted in urban spaces around the city. The intent will be to create a large collective art installation capable of telling the story of the face of the L’Aquila community and its surrounding area. The participatory initiative is part of the “L’Aquila city-territory” program, carried out as part of the ReStart development plan, with the aim of strengthening the value of culture as a tool for social cohesion, enhancement of inland areas and civic participation.

The initiative is inspired by the global spirit of Inside Out, the artistic platform launched by JR in 2011 after the TED Prize, which over time has become an international movement with more than 2,600 collective actions carried out in 152 countries and more than 500,000 portraits collected. For the L’Aquila edition, the project will be accompanied by the motto “We are community,” a message designed to underscore the sense of belonging and the bond between the city and the earthquake crater territories, at a symbolic moment for the rebirth journey and the cultural future of the capital.

Portraits of the participants and the subsequent installation of the large-format posters in urban spaces will then be made, transforming L’Aquila into an open-air art gallery and directly involving citizens, associations and realities of the area.

“Bringing the JR project to L’Aquila means giving concrete form to one of the principles behind the Capital Year: putting people and community at the center. Through the faces of citizens we will tell the story of our identity, the strength of the territory and the path of rebirth that we are experiencing. It will be a collective work that belongs to everyone and will bring L’Aquila and the surrounding areas inside an international network of public and participatory art,” said L’Aquila Mayor Pierluigi Biondi.

L'Aquila will welcome a large group work by JR

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