Metamorphosis and Materiality

HUMAN HERITAGE – Materiality and Metamorphosis
October 1, 2025
Time 9am-7pm

DISSEMINATION – The Future of Roadshow
October 2, 2025
Time 9:30am-3pm

Florence closes the journey of The AFAM Roadshow – Research. Creativity. Innovation, at least in this first edition, after having crossed and animated the cities of Ancona, Pontedera, Como, Milan, Naples and Rome. A double event dedicated to the transformation and reuse of materials, spaces and techniques between art, design, music and new technologies.

LABA – Libera Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze is the host venue for the event, at Via de’ Vecchietti 6, in the heart of the historic center, just minutes from Piazza della Repubblica. The building, characterized by spacious and bright spaces, reflects the historical identity of the city and offers ideal environments for contemporary art education: classrooms, laboratories, studios and exhibition halls become a place for students, teachers and artists to meet.

The venue accommodates the memory and urban fabric of Florence, making itself a meeting point between tradition, innovation and design experimentation, where the city’s heritage dialogues with new creative languages.

Human Heritage is the key word that guides the Florence event. It recalls heritage as living matter, in constant transformation, which is renewed through the reuse of materials, technical experimentation and contamination between languages. In Florence, Human Heritage invites us to reflect on the metamorphosis of space, on the intertwining of container and content, of furnishings, lights, colors and sounds that shape experiences and new visions of art and living.

The Oct. 1 day will feature the well-established format with Opening (presentation of the event), Table Talks (invitation-only panel discussions), Genius Academy (meetings open to the public, by reservation only) and PopUpShow, exhibitions by artists in collaboration with partner institutions.

The second day, entitled Dissemination, looks at the future of the Roadshow: with the seminar Telling the Roadshow activity results are presented, perspectives are shared, and the Hackathon dedicated to students is launched, which is the first co-design stage for the future of the Roadshow and will be organized in February 2026.

The Florence Genius Academies are workshops and open meetings designed for students, researchers, professionals and anyone curious or inquisitive about exploring the themes of material transformation, sustainability and new technologies in contemporary culture. The meetings are free, with mandatory registration at the links provided. Sessions take place in the afternoon of Oct. 1, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. The Genius Academy program in Florence, at LABA:

TRACES OF LUXURY, SIGNS OF SUSTAINABILITY
edited by Monica Atzori, LABA
→ Register at this link

A simple yet meaningful gesture: transforming a scrap into an object that speaks of beauty, care and awareness. In the workshop, participants will make a leather card holder, using reclaimed materials from the world of high fashion. A concrete experience of sustainable design, in which manual making becomes a tool to reflect on new ways of creating and thinking about design.

METAMORPHOSIS OF A TEMPORARY EXHIBITION
edited by Sofia Pescarin and Laura Travaglini, CNR ISPC
→ Register at this link

What happens when a temporary exhibition ends? Starting with the experience of the Ulisse Aldrovandi exhibition in Bologna (2023), this workshop explores the potential of digital technologies to give new life and new forms to an exhibition through the creation of a digital twin, a digital library, and web3D tools. The co-design activity will guide participants in the transformation of the exhibition, experimenting with tools developed as part of the European project PERCEIVE.

TOURISM, CULTURE AND CREATIVITY
edited by Ivana Cerato and Alessandra Marasco, CNR ISPC
→ Register at this link

The meeting addresses the promotion of sustainable behaviors of cultural visitors from the perspective of twin transitions, focusing on factors that encourage responsible practices and the role of digital technologies. Through concrete examples and applications, new strategies for fostering curation and sustainability in cultural places will be explored.

At 4:30 p.m. there is the Closing, a final ceremony in which protagonists and stars of the individual events share reflections and contents of the day. From 6-7 p.m. aperitif cocktails in the LABA spaces.

Finally, the PopUPShows, works displayed as a temporary exhibition, can be visited both days: on Oct. 1 with hours 9 a.m.-7 p.m. and on Oct. 2, 2025 with hours 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m.

– > Download the Florence event press release here

– > Florence event brochure here

– > Save – the – Florence event dates here

– > Concept Exploring Humans paginated here

– > Creativity map

– > General Roadshow Brochure here