Founder, Chair

Sahlan Momo Founder, Chair

The son of an Italian diplomat, Sahlan  Momo was born in Villareggia (nr. Turin), Italy) and spent his formative years in several European countries getting acquainted with different cultures and beliefs.

After receiving his Master’s degree in Political Science (University “La Sapienza”, Rome), he carried out cross culture fieldwork in North Africa, the Middle East, Asia and South-East Asia deepening his knowledge of the anthropological, spiritual and aesthetic aspects of these cultures.

Mr Momo began his professional career as a painter and sculptor in 1968, investigating the non-mimetic representation of symbols developed further into reflections on art and the creative process. He was Associate Professor of Painting and Professor of Photography at the Fine Art Academy in Rome (1976-1980).

In 1980 he took an interest in issues relating to sustainability, the conservation of cultural heritage and the `book’ as an artistic expression, synthesizing his findings by reformulating the concepts of editio in relation to the visual, the plastic and the written text. He conceived and devised an innovative method of producing durable and sustainable books and, in 1986, founded the Semar publishing house which adhered to this new method. Aiming to actively support the conservation of cultural heritage, he founded the international journal Conservazione. Cultura e Ambiente[Conservation. Cultural Heritage and Environment] in 1989 and remained Chief editor until 1999, fostering several meetings and conferences on related topics.

Mr Momo was Professor of History of Contemporary Art at the University “La Sapienza” and Professor of History of Theatre at the European Institute of Design (Rome, 1989-1993), and lectured at several conferences and congresses during this period. Distancing himself somewhat from the academic world, his interest was increasingly drawn to issues of sustainability, the Third sector, cross-culture, interfaith dialogue, development and ethical business. He became more actively engaged in managing the publishing house and fulfilling her cross-cultural editorial line, releasing over a hundred titles (1994-2002) in the field of human and social sciences and hundreds of musical scores of contemporary learned composers, disseminating them in live concerts and broadcastings. In 2003 he established the Semar international unit in The Hague, Netherlands.

He is founder and Chair of the Spanda Foundation (2005), and founder and Chief editor of Musiké. International Journal of Ethnomusicological studies (2005 — ) and of Spanda Journal (2007 — ).

His artistic works are both in private and institutional collections (Museum of Contemporary Art, Frankfurt A/M; Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Modern Art, Rome; Victoria and Albert Museum, London, etc.).

Mr Momo has served as Chair and Member of a number of advisory committees for academic, research and scientific institutions and has been the recipient of several national and international awards and honours. He has published books and papers on a variety of topics including art theory, conservation of cultural heritage, consciousness, development, spirituality, and is author and presenter of radio broadcastings on cultural anthropology and comparative religion.

Father of three children, he currently lives between Rome and The Hague.
Website