Sahlan Momo Founder, Chair
The son of an Italian diplomat, Sahlan  Momo was born in Villareggia (nr. Turin, Italy). He 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 conducted cross-cultural fieldwork in North Africa, the Middle East, Asia and South-East Asia, deepening his knowledge of these cultures’ anthropological, spiritual and aesthetic aspects.
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 a Professor of Painting and a Professor of Photography at the Fine Art Academy in Rome from 1974 to 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 the visual, the plastic and the written text. He conceived and devised an innovative method of producing sustainable books and, in 1986, founded the Semar publishing house which adhered to this new method. In 1989, aiming to support the conservation of cultural heritage, he founded the international journal Conservazione. Cultura e Ambiente [Conservation. Cultural Heritage and Environment] and remained Chief editor until 1999 fostering several meetings and conferences on related topics.
Mr Momo was a Professor of the History of Contemporary Art at the University “La Sapienza” and a professor of the History of Theatre at the European Institute of Design in Rome from 1989 to 1994 lecturing at several conferences and congresses during these tenures. Distancing himself somewhat from the academic world, his interest was increasingly drawn to sustainability, the Third sector, cross-culture, intercultural dialogue, development, and ethical business. He became more engaged in managing the publishing house and fulfilling her cross-cultural editorial line, releasing from 1994 to 2002 over three hundred titles on human and social sciences, and hundreds of musical scores of contemporary learned composers disseminating the works in live concerts and broadcastings. In 2003 he established the Semar international unit in The Hague, Netherlands.
He is the founder and Chair of the Spanda Foundation (2005), and founder and Chief editor of Musiké. International Journal of Ethnomusicological Studies (2005 — ) and the Spanda Journal (2007 — ).
In 2013, his plastic creativity regained the fore enriched by the social bearing widened by the work at the Foundation. His artworks are in private and institutional collections (Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Frankfurt A/M; National Gallery of Modern Art (GNAM), Rome; Victoria and Albert Museum, London, etc.
Mr Momo has served as Chair and Member of several advisory committees for academic, research and scientific institutions and is the recipient of several national and international awards and honours. He is the author and presenter of radio broadcastings on cultural anthropology and comparative religion. He has authored books and papers on various topics including art theory, conservation of cultural heritage, consciousness, development, art, and spirituality.
Father of three children, he currently lives between Rome and The Hague.
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