"THE DIVER of _ Second Edition" edited by Nuvola Lista.

The artists and illustrators called upon today have once again had the arduous task of working in the absence of the Diver, starting from the same base (a private serigraphy of the man from the past probably intent on diving into the Afterlife).

The godfather of this second edition is Ernesto Tatafiore who, together with Ale Giorgini, Toni Demuro, Vauro, Davide Bonazzi, Elisa Lanconelli, Gino Rubert, Emiliano Ponzi, Massimiliano Di Lauro, Francesco Poroli, Stefano Marra, Giulio Iacchetti, Davide Toffolo, Elisa Seitzinger, Leonardo Crudi, Luca Font, Giacomo Keison Bevilacqua, Guido Scarabottolo, Domenico Pascarella, and Fabio Magnasciutti, once again open up multiple and new perspectives for a once again surprising result.

The first edition was curated by Gillo Dorfles in 1998. The artists: Altan, Baj, Brindisi, Calligaro, Crepax, Cucchi, Echaurren, Giuliani, Lista, Lodola, Nespolo, Paladino, Pericoli, Persico, Pisani, Staino, Tadini, and Dorfles himself, each reinterpreted, according to their own style, the iconic image of Paestum. Winking and extending a hand to those immersed in archaeology who wanted to turn their gaze to the contemporary artistic panorama.

If it continues to be contemporary, it is right that today, 25 years later, in a new historical, cultural, and social moment, a new vision/version is proposed.

It is necessary to stimulate a reflection: how much does the current human condition influence the creative process? We asked artists and illustrators through the reinterpretation of an image from the past that returns to question us.

Since the tomb on which the Diver is portrayed came to light, thanks to Mario Napoli in 1968, the vision of the human condition has changed, not only in the archaeological "sector." The extraordinary discovery has inspired writers, directors, poets, art historians, philosophers, and artists.

The evocative power of the fresco lies in a sort of infinity, of the moment suspended forever between before and after, chosen as an emblem of a condition of existence and of man.

Even in the 25 years since the previous edition, there is a before and after, the before of the birth of social networks, the before of the relentless use of digital, the before of Covid that has plunged humanity into anguish.

As art critic Antonello Tolve writes in the wonderful text in the catalog: "Each of the new names invited in this special adventure of 2024, which will undoubtedly have other stages and will expand with other voices of contemporary art, design, or illustration (the future is the protection of the past conditioned by the present, as Braque noted in one of his many notebooks written between 1917 and 1947), has been grafted into the perfect space of the past and has decided to exert an iconic (at times ironic) pressure, an escape route capable of crossing time or creating pleasant short circuits between the stylistic perfection of the ancient and their own modus operandi, almost as if hearing the clear echo of a leap and rereading the life of a boy who, in the elegance of the figure and the grace of a gesture, distances himself from the world to remain eternally suspended - in the silent penumbra of a yellowish darkness - between before and an after that will never come."

The event is organized with the patronage and collaboration of the City of Capaccio Paestum.