The Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Beijing, in collaboration with the Italian Embassy and Associazione Nuova Artemarea ETS, presented the conference Developments in the Contemporary with Pietro Ruffo, Flavio Favelli and Daniele Sigalot.

The meeting, moderated by Guicciardo Sassoli de’ Bianchi Strozzi, Manuela Valentini and Ren Jingge, previewed two projects dedicated to contemporary Italian art in Beijing.
The first project concerned the new edition of the residency programme Developments in the Contemporary for the Italian Embassy and the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Beijing, with works by Flavio Favelli and Daniele Sigalot. The exhibition opened on 31 May 2026 in the spaces of the Italy China Council Foundation at Raffles City Beijing. The initiative, launched in July 2025, had already hosted the residencies and exhibitions of Enzo Cacciola, Vincenzo Mascia, Davide Bramante, Luca Pozzi, Matteo Basilé and Davide Sebastian.

The second project was dedicated to The Flowers of Time by Pietro Ruffo, which grew out of the exhibitions on Andrea Palladio promoted by the Italian Embassy and the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Beijing, beginning with the exhibition Geometry, harmony and life. The architecture of Andrea Palladio from Antiquity to Classicism, hosted at the National Museum of China.
The works of Pietro Ruffo and of the American photographer Lois Conner were shown at the Temple Dongjingyuan in Beijing before becoming part of the exhibition Chinese Voices on Palladio, which opened at the Tsinghua University museum.