Viaggio in Sicilia 10 – Monira Al Qadiri presents Geologies of Time

On Saturday 23 May 2026, Planeta Cultura presents the tenth edition of Viaggio in Sicilia at Tenuta Planeta Ulmo. For twenty years, this itinerant project has invited international artists to engage with Sicily’s landscape and its cultural stratifications, transforming the island into a site of research, critical inquiry and contemporary cultural production.

This year’s edition is incorporated into the programme of events for Gibellina: Italian Capital of Contemporary Art 2026. This framework heightens the project’s resonance and consolidates the dialogue between culture, creation and community that has distinguished Planeta Cultura since its foundation. In addition, this edition of Viaggio in Sicilia has been coordinated in collaboration with Fondazione Merz, with which Planeta Cultura’s activities have long enjoyed an energetic dialogue.

This edition’s protagonist is Monira Al Qadiri, a Kuwaiti artist born in Senegal, trained in Japan, and now based in Berlin. One of the most influent figures on the international contemporary art scene, Al Qadiri has developed a practice that intertwines Middle Eastern and global contexts, personal memory and shared imaginaries. Her work, presented at institutions and international biennials in Europe, the Middle East, and the United States, addresses themes such as geopolitics, the extractive industry, cultural identity, and the imagery of oil, transforming materials and symbols into powerful narratives about the present. Raised in Kuwait during the Gulf War, the artist has developed a practice in which biography, collective history, and landscape merge, creating a powerful visual reflection on the relationship between resources, power, and transformation.

Selected by Vito Planeta, Valentina Bruschi and Beatrice Merz, Al Qadiri presents Geologies of Time, a project curated by Valentina Bruschi and Vito Planeta, and stems from the artist’s nomadic residency during the grape harvest of October 2025. Conceived as an immersion in the depths of time, this crossing explored geological and cultural memory while absorbing the transformations that have shaped Sicilian identity.

Photographer Federica Jannuzzi accompanied the artist throughout, documenting each step of the journey and tracing a visual narrative composed of daily discoveries, encounters and revelations. Her gaze followed Al Qadiri’s own over the course of more than a week, encompassing the artist’s visits to archaeological sites and emblematic landscapes from Selinunte to Enna, from Alberto Burri’s Grande Cretto in Gibellina to Mount Etna, from Noto to Palermo. The artist also engaged with Palermo historical sites—including Palazzo dei Normanni and Palazzo Chiaromonte Steri—and palaeontological collections such as Museo Gemmellaro.

The site-specific created for Ulmo stems from the Monira Al Qadiri’s engagement with ruins, natural archives, and scientific narratives, shaped by close observation and a direct encounter with the island, which has profoundly informed the artist’s practice.

The installation is conceived as a permanent work, intended to become an integral part of the Ulmo landscape.