In recent years, the global political landscape has undergone unexpected transformations. The process of globalization, which once seemed increasingly rapid and irreversible, has given way to the resurgence of extreme forms of nationalism—both in Europe and the United States. With the intensification of old conflicts and the emergence of new ones, nation borders and divisions have begun to weigh heavily on the movement of people and ideas.

LAAAAAND!!! Curating Another Nation is a panel discussion that will take place on Monday November 10, 2025, at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York. It is organized by the duo Francesco Urbano Ragazzi – the inaugural Italian Fellow for Curatorial Research at the American Academy in Rome – to reflect upon the ways in which art and curating can critically respond to this renewed and suspicious interest in the national dimension of culture. A group of curators and art critics is invited to respond to a series of interconnected questions.

What is the value of nationally themed exhibitions today? On one hand, contemporary art has taken on a global vocation; yet exhibitions such as the Whitney Biennial or the many pavilions at the Venice Biennale still base their very purpose on national representation. What is the logic of such representation in societies marked by different forms of nomadism?

It is often said that curating lives in the paradox of being a global practice that must take root in the specific context of local communities. What happens to this paradox when it is viewed from a national perspective—seemingly positioned between the two poles of this dilemma? When does the appeal to localism turn into propaganda?

What defines a national artistic identity? While funding structures continue to anchor artists and curators to specific territories, it is increasingly difficult to determine whether fully shared cultural references still exist. How can we approach the concept of national identity from the perspective of unexpected or subaltern subjects? Is there a way to conceive of this concept not as an essence, but as a heterogeneous historical process?

And ultimately, can nationally themed exhibition formats be conceived as tools of resistance, or does their original mission compromise them from the outset?

In an era where nationalist worldviews are dangerously on the rise, LAAAAAND!!! Curating Another Nation is an attempt to reclaim the discourse around the forms we wish to give to human coexistence. For this reason, it is a conversation that demands urgent attention.

LAAAAAND!!! Curating Another Nation is organized in the framework of the inaugural Italian Fellowship for Curatorial Research at the American Academy in Rome. It is promoted by the American Academy in Rome and the Directorate General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture in partnership with the School of Visual Arts.