Artefatto

ARTEFATTO is the artistic commissioning project promoted by NUMM Foundation for Contemporary Arts, launched on the occasion of the 34th edition of Amson a la Madona, the historic celebration dedicated to the culture of wheat and the traditions of Monferrato. The project invites contemporary artists to reinterpret the region's memory, rural heritage, and traditional agricultural tools through new artworks, creating a dialogue between history, identity, and contemporary artistic languages.

Organized by APS Santa Maria del Tempio, the event takes place at Bucolicò – Museum of Agriculture, the first open-air agricultural museum in Monferrato. More than a museum, Bucolicò is a living place that preserves the memory of rural traditions, the cycles of wheat cultivation, and the tools that have shaped the landscape and identity of the region.

Inspired by Bucolicò's narrative, each edition of ARTEFATTO explores a different stage of the agricultural cycle. The first edition is dedicated to autumn—the season of preparation and sowing—and invites artists to engage with a selection of historic farming tools, transforming them into the starting point for new contemporary works.

ARTEFATTO reflects NUMM's mission to build connections between tradition and contemporary practice, cultural heritage and artistic research, local memory and international dialogue. Artists are invited to develop original projects that offer a contemporary interpretation of the region's material culture, creating works that do not simply recreate the past but reinterpret it through today's artistic language.

The selected projects will be exhibited at Bucolicò during the 34th edition of Amson a la Madona, where they will enter into dialogue with the original agricultural tools and the landscape that inspired them. A technical jury will evaluate the proposals according to four criteria—history, technique, storytelling, and vision—and the winning project will be produced and permanently integrated into the museum's exhibition route.