The collaboration between the General
Commissariat for Italy Expo 2025 Osaka and Lucca Comics & Games
was announced today in order to bring one of the most
prestigious Italian and international events dedicated to
comics, games, video games and cinema to the Italy Pavilion.
The news was announced during the opening ceremony of Lucca
Comics & Games which took place at the Teatro del Giglio and was
attended by Tuscany Governor Eugenio Giani, the President of the
Province of Lucca Marcello Pierucci, the Mayor of Lucca Mario
Pardini, the Ambassador of Japan to Italy Satoshi Suzuki, the
artist Yoshitaka Amano, the president of Lucca Crea Nicola
Lucchesi, the Director of Lucca Comics & Games Emanuele Vietina
and the Commissioner General for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka Mario
Vattani.
The agreement aims to enhance the cultural encounter between
Italy and Japan, which will culminate at Expo 2025 Osaka with
projects and initiatives co-organized at the Italy Pavilion also
in collaboration with Lucca Comics & Games, representing an
important opportunity for cultural promotion for Italy.
The signing of the agreement was also an opportunity to present
the maestro Yoshitaka Amano, an internationally renowned
Japanese artist, as one of the Ambassadors of Italy at Expo 2025
Osaka. The Japanese artist thus joins the list of prominent
personalities from the world of art, culture, and design, who
have agreed to promote Italian culture in Japan as Ambassadors
of the Italy Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka: fashion designer Junko
Koshino, designer Toshiyuki Kita, industrial designer Ken
Okuyama, sculptor Susumu Shingu, orchestra conductor Tomoni
Nishimoto, and entrepreneur Yuzo Yagi.
Yoshitaka Amano has created the three official posters for the
2024 edition of Lucca Comics & Games, dedicated to the Centenary
of composer Giacomo Puccini's death, further strengthening the
bond between Italy and Japan in the name of music, art and
creativity.
"This agreement opens up an unprecedented collaboration for us
in the name of new arts, comics and games, aspects of
contemporary culture that both countries share", commented
Ambassador Mario Vattani, General Commissioner for Italy at Expo
2025 Osaka.
"Lucca Comics & Games, an Italian event of excellence in the
field of pop art and capable of speaking to a heterogeneous
audience, will bring dedicated projects to the Italy Pavilion,
enriching the experience of visitors to Expo 2025 Osaka with the
best of Italian creativity. We are happy to welcome Yoshitaka
Amano among our 'Ambassadors', who thus becomes a further
protagonist of the path of cultural diplomacy between Italy and
Japan".
Emanuele Vietina, Director of Lucca Comics & Games, commented:
"Bringing Lucca Comics & Games to the Italy Pavilion at Expo
2025 Osaka is a milestone that makes us proud of the path we
have taken in these fifty-eight years of activity. Starting from
the in-depth study of Italian comics, moving on to European and
then American comics, up to the Oriental manga, Lucca Comics &
Games has always had the ambition of being a place dedicated to
intellectual reflection and analysis of the present. Arriving
today in the country of origin of many of the disciplines we
celebrate and where some of the fantastic imaginary worlds most
loved by our community are born represents for all of us a new
starting point to continue to broaden our horizons and our
cultural mission, in the name of transmediality, inclusion,
respect for the arts and professionalism. A 'Butterfly Effect'
that consolidates the importance of making new contemporary
mythologies dialogue by drawing on the richness of our cultural
heritage".
Yoshitaka Amano expressed his enthusiasm: "I am deeply honored
to be the Ambassador of the Italy Pavilion at Expo 2025. I have
great respect and admiration for Italian art and I am sincerely
grateful to have the opportunity to share the beauty of Italian
and Japanese art with the world thanks to this special cultural
exchange."
Expo 2025 Osaka will be held from April 13 to October 13, 2025
under the overall theme "Designing future society for our
lives."
Italy is participating with a Pavilion designed by architect
Mario Cucinella interpreting the theme "Art regenerates life."
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