cijaru born from the collaboration of his founders Davide De Notarpietro e Francesco Scasciamacchia who both from Otranto (Lecce), Italy, share the same objectives and projects for the research of the historical and cultural roots of Puglia, Salento and the Mediterranean Balkan, Greek and Turkish regions. Through transversal projects between history and contemporary art, cijaru attempts to highlight the existent with the aim of promoting and valorize it in a participatory and collective way.

cijaru creates exhibitions, public art projects, workshops and artistic residencies through the active participation of the local community. The Association, sustained by historical research, revises in an innovative way the geopolitical narration of Salento. cijaru prioritizes as its main objective the renewal of historical and cultural ties of Salento and Puglia with the Balkan, Greek and Turkish regions and overall with the near Eastern regions, realizing contemporary art projects commissioned to Mediterranean artists.

cijaru questions the cultural hegemony of “south-north” to propose an imaginative map that in an interdisciplinary way revitalizes an horizontal and non-Eurocentric vision for Puglia.