Massimo Contrasto is a curatorial project dedicated to Massimo Cittadini and interactive arts in Italy, articulated through study days, an exhibition, and a multimedia publication. From May 11 to 31, 2026, the project follows Cittadini’s work as an artist, teacher, and experimenter, connecting computer art, interactive environments, hacker cultures, networks, video, and counter-information practices.
The study days on May 11 and 12 opened a conversation among artists, scholars, archives, and students around the legacy of Italian interactive practices. The exhibition at Spazio Ex Paretra in Carrara traces a path through works, documents, and devices: from Mandala System-based installations such as Buddha Vision and Mr. Regular to videos from the 1980s and 1990s, from objects of technological archaeology to the self-built sound instruments of Transductors Connections.
My contribution, A Saucerful of Secrets: fractal memories and DIY archaeology from the Massimo Contrasto Archive, presents the work carried out over the last eighteen months on the Massimo Contrasto Archive. I discussed the survey of VHS tapes, hard drives, digital assets, and historical hardware, focusing on the recovery of Amiga/Mandala System interactive installations and on an idea of grassroots archiving: not a static repository, but a living device capable of reactivating the political, relational, and technical charge of Massimo Contrasto’s work today.