Paolo Naldini, director of Cittadellarte, proposes an editorial on the Venice Bienniale: “Having imagination in power”, he says, “is not enough, just as the power of imagination is not enough: we also need a good dose of practices, methods, prototypes and their actual results. The instances and ideas that inhabit the worlds that this Biennale invites us to (re)discover, not only seem to me to be fully valid, but I believe it would be appropriate for them to form the basis of any contemporary cultural operation committed to tackling the epochal challenges we are facing. So, fine. But in the Bienniales I would like to see, and which we need, there should be, in my opinion, much more. So what is missing in this milk of dreams? The rennet, the enzyme that makes dreams precipitate and gives them substance”.

The talk on the theme of water, scheduled for Tuesday 12 April at 4pm, will be held in the space of Fondazione Pistoletto housing the exhibition “Biella Città Arcipelago”, and will involve twelve speakers from different fields. The conference, organised in collaboration with the project S+T+ARTS4Water, is one of the initiatives proposed by TACT, the winning project of the third edition of the Creative Living Lab call promoted by the General Directorate for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture. It will be possible to take part in the meeting in person or remotely: here is how to participate.

From 20 February to 3 March, Cittadellarte hosted the Caravan Residency Program, a new stage of the project “Alexandria: (re)activation of common urban imaginaries”, conceived and implemented by UNIDEE Residency Programs, curated together with Edwin Nasr in conversation with Sarah Rifky and supported by the European Union’s Creative Europe programme. From the context of Biella and Fondazione Pistoletto, the 16 international participants and the 5 social entrepreneurs worked together to compose, redesign and play with existing parts and elements that structure everyday life through a peripatetic format, with reference to Alexandria and other European and Mediterranean cities.

On 28 January, the MATER Foundation, chef Walter el Nagar, Food for Soul and chef Massimo Bottura presented the site of the Refectory, located at 120 rue de Lyon, in the Charmilles district. The ceremony was also attended by Giulia Pessina (Cittadellarte communication manager), Olga Pirazzi (Fashion B.E.S.T. manager), Clara Pogliani (Unidee Academy) and Francesco Saverio Teruzzi (coordinator of the Rebirth/Third Paradise ambassadors), who organised and curated the first meeting of the Geneva Demopractic Work and unveiled the work “I Tavoli del Terzo Paradiso”. Cittadellarte’s Fashion Office, with the collaboration of fashion designer Flavia La Rocca, designed and produced a series of sustainable uniforms to be worn by the cooks and waiting staff.