Independent Art Republic – RUFA for Rome Art Week 2026
Now in its eleventh edition, Rome Art Week fosters connections and dialogue between different voices in the contemporary art scene through a programme of exhibitions, events and initiatives, all open to the public free of charge.
RUFA takes part in the event with Independent Art Republic, an exhibition project that explores art as a space for encounter, experimentation and sharing through the works of fourteen international artists.
The exhibition will open on Monday 19 October at 6.00 pm at RUFA Space, Via degli Ausoni 7, Rome, and will remain open to the public free of charge until 24 October 2026.
Independent Art Republic
Independent Art Republic begins with a simple idea: art can create a territory of its own.
For one week in the Serbian countryside, fourteen artists selected through an open call came together from around the world to work alongside three mentors. The exhibition presents work that emerged from this shared time and space.
For a brief period, the artists inhabited a common ground – not as representatives of different nations, disciplines, or generations, but as bodies, voices, and imaginations in relation. IAR is less a place than a condition: a temporary republic founded on encounter, trust, experimentation, and the freedom not to know in advance what might emerge.
Here, mentorship means proximity, attention, and making space for the unforeseen. The artistic process is allowed to remain open, unstable, and unfinished. Error, imperfection, and failure are not interruptions, but possible openings through which another language can begin.
What remains is not only the work produced, but also the experience of being together: conversations, gestures, silences, and shared time. Independent Art Republic imagines art as common ground – fragile and temporary, yet capable of creating new forms of belonging.
Mentors: Serbian artist Vladimir Miladinović and artists and RUFA professors Marta Jovanović and Davide Dormino.
Participating artists: Jelena Milatović , Kaja Đoković, Tatjana Ružić, Rishi Khurana, A. Elif Aydoğmuş, Julia Vasconcelos, Zorana Stevanović, Aleksandra Milutinović, Aleksandra Aranitović, Nikola Lajić, Heather Sussanah Roach, Angelina Krunić, Sonja Lundin, Anđela Kopanja
EXHIBITION INFORMATION
Opening: Monday 19 October 2026, 6.00 pm
Exhibition dates: 19–24 October 2026
Venue: RUFA Space – Via degli Ausoni 7, Rome
Free admission.