WAYS of BECOMING: 25 years at unidee
Exhibitions, talks and panels, performances and UNIDEE Residency Modules
21 September - 7 December 2024
In 2024, UNIDEE Residency Programs celebrates 25 years of creating educational encounters for artists engaged in art and social transformation at its home at Cittadellarte - Fondazione Pistoletto in Biella, Italy. Founded in 1999 by Michelangelo Pistoletto, the residency programmes have registered the participation of over a thousand artists, practitioners and cultural professionals from 52 different countries, demonstrating what art historian Gregory Sholette considers "a far-sighted and vibrant investment in the future of innovative, intellectually stimulating, and socially engaged cultural practices." To celebrate this milestone, Cittadellarte is dedicating the 26th edition of Arte al Centro, Cittadellarte's major annual event, to the 25th anniversary of the UNIDEE Residency Programs - reflecting on the past, present and future of artistic residency programmes for social transformation. The celebrations seek to recognise how Cittadellarte and UNIDEE have fostered 'ways of becoming'—enabling personal, collective, and societal transformation. The event will include panels, meetings, performances, and a special edition of UNIDEE Modules residencies, addressing persistent and emerging issues related to art for social change.
Exhibition
A large group exhibition featuring works by UNIDEE alumni from around the world will explore how art can positively influence processes of sustainable change.
The exhibition will display works by Mae Aguinaldo-Mapa, Nico Angiuli, Mariangela Aponte, Laurent Barnavon, Lindsay Benedict, Ilaria Biotti, Charles-Antoine Blais Métivier, Michael Blum, Beatrice Catanzaro, David Cañavate, Luigi Coppola, Giulia Filippi, Stephanie Hanna, Mako Ishizuka, Emily Jacir, Charlie Jeffery, Cees Krijnen, Olga Ledis, Natalia Ludmila, Karl Logge & Marta Romani, Matthew Mazzotta, Katia Meneghini, Ryts Monet, Alice Pedroletti, Anastasia Ryabova, Caretto - Spagna, Chiara Sgaramella, PLoT (Colette Lewis, Marilyn Lennon and Elinor Rivers), Alejandro Vàsquez and Kosta Tonev. Film and video screening by: Aleksandrija Ajduković, David Behar Perahia, Lindsay Benedict, Tom Dale, Gluklya, Mako Ishizuka, Hiba Isleem, Charlie Jeffery, Eleni Kamma, Olga Ledis, Richard Legaspi, Walid Maw'ed, Armin Mobasseri, Anastasia Ryabova, Kosta Tonev.
The exhibition is a collaborative effort that includes archival materials, such as anecdotes, memories, reflections, books, and recipes from former residents and mentors. This section results from extensive research into UNIDEE's archive and an open call to over a thousand residents, mentors, and guests. It aims to convey, through memories, the experience of being part of a residency like UNIDEE and the developments since 1999.
This archival section of the exhibition will feature highlights dedicated to UNIDEE's longest-standing partnerships that have supported the program for more than two decades and are Fondazione Zegna, illycaffe S.p.A, Ecotermica.
During the opening, there will be live performances by Charlie Jeffery, Georgios Moraitis, Marlo De Lara, Karl Logge & Marta Romani and Katia Meneghini.
Talks and Panels
For four days, talks, conferences, and meetings will be organised to address persistent and emerging issues related to art for social change, featuring guests including Andy Abbott, Valerio del Baglivo, Susanne Bosch, Chiara Cartuccia, Beatrice Catanzaro, Viviana Checchia, Luigi Coppola, Vincenzo Estremo, Fabiola Fiocco, Owen Griffiths, Cecilia Guida, Jeanne van Heeswijk, Iswanto Hartono, Diego del Pozo Barriuso, Juan Sandoval, Alessandra Saviotti, Angela Serino, Anna Taylor, Aterraterra and Mick Wilson.
The program aims to reflect on the transformation of socially engaged artistic practices over the past twenty-five years and explore the various possibilities for art that inherently intersect with other disciplines.
The themes addressed reflect emerging and critical issues of contemporary times, starting with the ecological turn and the urgency to rethink the needs and specificities of places in relation to their inhabitants. Other themes include new configurations for future artistic institutions and how they can be imagined and implemented, the pedagogical dimension as an essential condition of socially engaged art, and hospitality as a method in the context of artistic residencies as germinal places for acquiring new skills. Finally, the program will discuss the evolution of the different formats experimented with by UNIDEE Residency Programs over the years and the function of the archive in imagining its next 25 years.
21 September - 7 December 2024
In 2024, UNIDEE Residency Programs celebrates 25 years of creating educational encounters for artists engaged in art and social transformation at its home at Cittadellarte - Fondazione Pistoletto in Biella, Italy. Founded in 1999 by Michelangelo Pistoletto, the residency programmes have registered the participation of over a thousand artists, practitioners and cultural professionals from 52 different countries, demonstrating what art historian Gregory Sholette considers "a far-sighted and vibrant investment in the future of innovative, intellectually stimulating, and socially engaged cultural practices." To celebrate this milestone, Cittadellarte is dedicating the 26th edition of Arte al Centro, Cittadellarte's major annual event, to the 25th anniversary of the UNIDEE Residency Programs - reflecting on the past, present and future of artistic residency programmes for social transformation. The celebrations seek to recognise how Cittadellarte and UNIDEE have fostered 'ways of becoming'—enabling personal, collective, and societal transformation. The event will include panels, meetings, performances, and a special edition of UNIDEE Modules residencies, addressing persistent and emerging issues related to art for social change.
Exhibition
A large group exhibition featuring works by UNIDEE alumni from around the world will explore how art can positively influence processes of sustainable change.
The exhibition will display works by Mae Aguinaldo-Mapa, Nico Angiuli, Mariangela Aponte, Laurent Barnavon, Lindsay Benedict, Ilaria Biotti, Charles-Antoine Blais Métivier, Michael Blum, Beatrice Catanzaro, David Cañavate, Luigi Coppola, Giulia Filippi, Stephanie Hanna, Mako Ishizuka, Emily Jacir, Charlie Jeffery, Cees Krijnen, Olga Ledis, Natalia Ludmila, Karl Logge & Marta Romani, Matthew Mazzotta, Katia Meneghini, Ryts Monet, Alice Pedroletti, Anastasia Ryabova, Caretto - Spagna, Chiara Sgaramella, PLoT (Colette Lewis, Marilyn Lennon and Elinor Rivers), Alejandro Vàsquez and Kosta Tonev. Film and video screening by: Aleksandrija Ajduković, David Behar Perahia, Lindsay Benedict, Tom Dale, Gluklya, Mako Ishizuka, Hiba Isleem, Charlie Jeffery, Eleni Kamma, Olga Ledis, Richard Legaspi, Walid Maw'ed, Armin Mobasseri, Anastasia Ryabova, Kosta Tonev.
The exhibition is a collaborative effort that includes archival materials, such as anecdotes, memories, reflections, books, and recipes from former residents and mentors. This section results from extensive research into UNIDEE's archive and an open call to over a thousand residents, mentors, and guests. It aims to convey, through memories, the experience of being part of a residency like UNIDEE and the developments since 1999.
This archival section of the exhibition will feature highlights dedicated to UNIDEE's longest-standing partnerships that have supported the program for more than two decades and are Fondazione Zegna, illycaffe S.p.A, Ecotermica.
During the opening, there will be live performances by Charlie Jeffery, Georgios Moraitis, Marlo De Lara, Karl Logge & Marta Romani and Katia Meneghini.
Talks and Panels
For four days, talks, conferences, and meetings will be organised to address persistent and emerging issues related to art for social change, featuring guests including Andy Abbott, Valerio del Baglivo, Susanne Bosch, Chiara Cartuccia, Beatrice Catanzaro, Viviana Checchia, Luigi Coppola, Vincenzo Estremo, Fabiola Fiocco, Owen Griffiths, Cecilia Guida, Jeanne van Heeswijk, Iswanto Hartono, Diego del Pozo Barriuso, Juan Sandoval, Alessandra Saviotti, Angela Serino, Anna Taylor, Aterraterra and Mick Wilson.
The program aims to reflect on the transformation of socially engaged artistic practices over the past twenty-five years and explore the various possibilities for art that inherently intersect with other disciplines.
The themes addressed reflect emerging and critical issues of contemporary times, starting with the ecological turn and the urgency to rethink the needs and specificities of places in relation to their inhabitants. Other themes include new configurations for future artistic institutions and how they can be imagined and implemented, the pedagogical dimension as an essential condition of socially engaged art, and hospitality as a method in the context of artistic residencies as germinal places for acquiring new skills. Finally, the program will discuss the evolution of the different formats experimented with by UNIDEE Residency Programs over the years and the function of the archive in imagining its next 25 years.