Contemporary Art Museum (MAC)

The Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC) in Gibellina is a civic museum that includes over 400 works of contemporary art. These represent only a small part of the over two thousand works that make up the entire collection, the largest in Southern Italy.

The museum stems from the initiative of Ludovico Corrao, the former mayor of the city to whom the museum is now dedicated. After the Belice earthquake of 1968, Corrao gathered nationally renowned artists and architects to help the city emerge from the rubble through art and beauty.

At the MAC, it is possible to admire extraordinary works by Mario Schifano, the major representative of Italian Pop Art, who dedicated ten canvases to the nature of Belice. “The Cycle of Nature“, created on-site by the artist in the spring of 1984, deserves to be admired in all its majesty: it consists of ten large canvases dedicated to the vitality of the children of Gibellina and the primordial substances of water, air, and earth.

Or “The Night of Gibellina” by Renato Guttuso, the work painted in memory of the night when a thousand torches were lit for the second anniversary of the earthquake, and when the men and women of Belìce, as well as artists and intellectuals like Leonardo Sciascia, were present.

Or “The Mountain of Salt”, the permanent installation exhibited at Baglio Di Stefano and created by Mimmo Paladino, one of the most well-known representatives of the Transavanguardia.

The work consists of a heap of concrete, fiberglass, and gravel in which thirty wooden horses are placed, originating as the set design for the theatrical representation of Friedrich Schiller’s “The Bride of Messina,” held at the Orestiadi Festival in 1990.

When delivering the work to the director, Mimmo Paladino explained the symbolism behind his mountain: “Salt renders the land sterile, just as words without echo in Gibellina. The horses are black like the Sicilian fields burnt in August.”

The mountain of salt has also been transposed to Piazza del Plebiscito in Naples and Piazza Duomo in Milan on the anniversary of the Unification of Italy, garnering enormous success among Italian and international experts in contemporary art.

These are just a few among the vast collection at the MAC: this exhibition itinerary represents a surprising journey through the diverse currents of contemporary art from the early 1900s to today and is definitely worth a visit.

The museum consists of eight sections and is equipped with additional services such as a projection room, an art-focused bookshop, a library, and a cafeteria.

Opening Hours and Days
Every day 09:30–13:30, 16–20
Closed on Mondays.

Tickets can be purchased in advance here
www.macgibellina.it/museo/orari-e-prezzi

Every first Sunday of the month, as established by the regional council for Cultural Heritage and Sicilian Identity and in accordance with the Ministry of Culture’s provisions, museums are open, and admission is free.