The conference The Cities of the World between Heaven and Earth, the talks Agriculture for a Right to Food between Heaven and Earth and Water Care, the workshops Ecodesign and Embodied Knowledge, the sound performance by Michele Spanghero, the opening of the Play Room by Samuel Romano from Subsonica, the presentation of new works by Michelangelo Pistoletto, Nico Angiuli, Chiara Sgaramella and Miriam del Saz, Isabella Pers, PLOT, Ryts Monet and Collective Robida: all of this happened last Saturday and Sunday in Friuli Venezia Giulia (all the details in a previous article) between Villa Di Toppo Florio in Buttrio and Villa Manin in Passariano di Codroipo, a scenographic architectural masterpiece built in the 16th century. Before delving into the activities on offer, we need to take a step back to 25 May 2024, when the former Doge’s residence hosted the inauguration of the exhibition T3rza Terra – Michelangelo Pistoletto and Cittadellarte at Villa Manin, running until 31 December 2024 (more details in this news item). The exhibition also stands as a project that can be adopted and developed in every museum and territory, adapting it to local specificities, contingencies and opportunities (please write to us at fondazionepistoletto@cittadellarte.itshould you be interested).

Let us recall that T3rza Terra is articulated in four interconnected and circular layers. The matrix is embodied by a group of Pistoletto’s historical works, which represent basic programmatic directions and perspectives on various themes such as food, fashion, communication, education, corresponding to the different Uffizi of Cittadellarte. The second layer consists of multiple artistic practices curated by collectives active in extremely diverse territorial contexts all around the world invited by Fondazione Pistoletto with specific reference to the themes identified in the matrix, of which they therefore constitute possible contemporary developments and interpretations. The third layer takes shape through a monumental installation located in the open, public space of the park of Villa Manin representing the symbol of the Third Paradise, made of materials strongly related to the characteristics of the territory, and to possible conversations and projects with local communities. Finally, the fourth layer develops the programme of the Art of Demopraxy with its ‘canovaccio’ defined in the three phases outlined in the manifesto published in 2019 by Michelangelo Pistoletto and Paolo Naldini, and around which a public programme of events – including those that took place last weekend – is being built, leading to an in-depth exploration of the themes that the Forum of the Art of Demopraxy, held at the opening of the exhibition, brought to light, thus giving substance to initiatives, actions, projects and above all to a widespread conversation engaged in the territory and for the territory. On this, we’ll discover all the details by giving voice to Paolo Naldini.

The conference The Cities of the World between Heaven and Earth, held last Saturday at Villa Di Toppo. In the photo: Paolo Naldini (director of Cittadellarte), Sasa Dobricic (University of Nova Gorica), Fabio Salbitano (University of Sassari) and Andrea Marostegan (permaculture expert).

Paolo, you first presented the Art of Demopraxy in October 2012 in a publication by Cittadellarte. Your reflections have been translated into a practice through numerous Rebirth Forums that have all adopted the demopratic method to articulate and develop. This programme is still relevant after 12 years, at Villa Manin, confirming itself as the key to an engaged territorial conversation. What has been the impact of demopraxy in Friuli so far?
On Sunday, while inviting me to a conference on the theme of the relationship between creativity and enterprise, a regional manager told me that she knew from many sources that our work in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, and in particular between Villa Manin, Udine, Codroipo and Trieste, had won and gathered the enthusiastic support of subjects who had already been active, but felt that this moment was an opportunity to forge alliances and renew collaborations on concrete and specific projects.As a striking example, I would mention the work on the establishment of a blue community, which was specifically discussed on Sunday during the conference part of the public programme of the demopratic work at Villa Manin, and, in a very different way, the process initiated by artist Tiziana Pers, with the Unione Nazionale delle Pro Loco – which we involved in the mapping exercise conducted at the beginning of the year in preparation for the demopratic work – aimed at recovering traditional recipes based on the idea of vegetable food. This work has already been presented to the president of the regional council, Mauro Bordin, with a view to introducing into the regulations for fairs and events organised by Friuli’s Pro Locos (which are one of the most powerful territorial forces of participation and identity) a form of reward for the ones proposing plant-based options.
There are also many other significant initiatives: the Treeart festival (conceived by Patrizia Minen), whose objective is to promote the culture of urban regeneration and reforestation; events on the theme of water, music and theatre; collaborations with the Fine Arts Academy G.B. Tiepolo in Udine and the ISIA in Pordenone, to name but a few. From the public programme coordinated by our Rebirth/Third Paradise ambassador and curator of the Art of Demopraxy at Villa Manin Giacomo Bassmaji, the organisations involved drew renewed energy, inspiration, contacts and opportunities to share with communities they may not have reached yet.
I returned from the weekend of the public programme and the Forum truly invigorated by a sense that the promise of demopraxy has moved forward and been embraced by the territory. Of course, we live in a moment in history mainly characterised by great disappointment, if not despair, with respect to politics and the ability of our societies to build peace, harmony, social inclusion and sustainable prosperity; however, demopraxy is increasingly recognised and acknowledged not as a counter wave, but as the most coherent, credible and viable response. I confess that I get almost overwhelmed when people who encounter demopraxy reveal to me, in the most personal and diverse ways, that they have been waiting for it, even if sometimes unknowingly.

On 12 and 13 October the former Doge’s villa hosted new events – with your participation – as part of the exhibition T3rza Terra – Michelangelo Pistoletto and Cittadellarte at Villa Manin: for example, on Saturday the round table The Cities of the World between Heaven and Earth and the conference Agriculture for a Right to Food Between Heaven and Earth, and on Sunday the talk Water Care. What conclusions did you draw from the two days?
A balance sheet is made up of an assets statement and a profit and loss report. In the assets statement of this event I see the exhibition with the new installations inaugurated over the weekend, which consolidate and treasure projects, processes and extraordinary experiences of collectives that have worked in Friuli and elsewhere, and which therefore constitute a true capital at the disposal of visitors and the community that will participate in the public programme of T3rza Terra. The profit and loss report is, as always, a mixed picture: the most critical part is of course the never sufficient – at least for me – degree of sharing, participation and extension of the work; if we involved some 500 people, why not 5,000, 50,000 or perhaps more? I must also thank the administration of Villa Manin, its director Guido Comis, and Erpac for the resources they dedicated and the expenses they incurred for the realisation of this operation and this two-day event. On the profit side, to remain in the metaphor, I would list these 500 or so people, the concert by Samuel, frontman of Subsonica, which enchanted and energised us, the consolidated partnership with many players in the sustainable prosperity of the territory, the enlightening words of the president of the Italian Association of Organic Agriculture of the FVG section Cristina Micheloni, the commitment of the president of the regional council Mauro Bordin to continue along the path of this proposal to promote the culture of sustainability through plant-based food and, last but not least, the publication of a magazine that accompanies the exhibition and the demopratic work, which will be a true viaticum for more participation in the area and for other opportunities for engagement in other territories.

One of the talks at Villa Manin.

The talks of the Art of Demopraxy gather representatives of public and private organisations, of the productive and agricultural worlds, and of institutions and culture. At Villa Manin, thanks to the Art of Demopraxy, spokespeople from seemingly distant contexts have been working together to bring sustainability to their respective areas of the social fabric and fields of knowledge. Do you think that this heterogeneity, if managed, could prove to be the basic ingredient to trigger a real transformation of society in a responsible sense?
Heterogeneity is a necessary, though not sufficient, condition for the vitality of an ecosystem. The Art of Demopraxy is based on the interplay of differences on two fundamental levels. The first relates to the actual debate between representatives of different organisations within working groups, which, however thematic, involve the inclusion of different subjects. Suffice it to say that precisely at this stage the formula of trinamics and the symbol of the Third Paradise are adopted as a paradigm of reference, that is, the working groups, populated by supporters of different, opposed or opposing ideas, points of view or interests are accompanied on a path of negotiation and co-creation of a further and unprecedented vision. The second level, where the heterogeneity factor is critical, is that of the interconnection between different groups and subjects already active in the process, and others not yet involved. In fact, as we know, underlying the philosophy of demopraxy is the observation that every organisation in the social fabric constitutes a micro-government, and therefore within it the dynamics, in fact trinamics, of co-creation (which we naturally aim to facilitate and direct towards the common good, with reference to the 2030 Agenda) is constantly unfolding.
Even when working with organisations that have developed this awareness (possibly through knowledge of demopraxy and participation in the Forum), there remains the complex job of connecting them among themselves and, most importantly, connecting them with the institutions. I believe that there is much to be done on this level, and that numerous paths and tools already exist; I am thinking, for example, of the Labsus collaboration pacts and the broader notion of shared administration. We have to realise that we are planning to create institutions and ways of cooperating between institutions that do not yet exist. We must embrace the paradigm of co-creation over that of antagonism, complain, accusation and uncritical delegation. The time for alliance has come after decades of sterile, if not destructive, contrasts. We must leave behind an era in which citizens, administrators and technical experts were entrenched and, in fact, crushed in a solitude that made it impossible to concretely address the challenges we are currently experiencing. This heterogeneity should not be annihilated, but rather recognised and emphasised. Public officials are bearers of essential skills and responsibilities, but without efficient and cooperative organisations of citizens, enterprises or associations, they cannot do everything on their own. Only in an alliance between citizens, stakeholders, businesses, universities, research centres, cultural and trade associations, public administrators and institutional representatives will we be able to regenerate the way we live, how we eat, how we produce, how we dress, the water we drink, the houses and cities we inhabit, the nature that we ourselves are, together with the other animals and plants and even minerals on our planet. It is not an alliance of equals, but an alliance of the different. It is not a common denominator, but a common multiple, that is, an order of magnitude that derives from the union of all of us and not from the most minute and reductive elements that each one possesses.

Guido Comis and Paolo Naldini next to the work I templ(i) cambiano by Michelangelo Pistoletto.

Finally, let us focus on the artistic aspect: T3rza Terra features some of the artist’s most important works displayed in dialogue with the creations of local, Italian and foreign artists who also place an ethical and social dimension at the centre of their work. The exhibition is open until 31 December: as director of Cittadellarte, what distinguishes this exhibition? Why, in your opinion, should it be visited?The exhibition is a small atlas of contemporary artistic practices, each of them opening a dizzying window on worlds, communities, landscapes and territories. It is a synthetic atlas, not an encyclopaedia, it recounts the stories of exemplary projects that, I believe, will lead you to understand how much the contemporary art practices that are studied and taught at Accademia Unidee and UNIDEE Residency Programs are working in the world to tackle concrete, everyday, real, burning and sometimes ignoble problems of our everyday life. In the meantime, visitors pass through wonderful and perhaps unique rooms, populated by some of Michelangelo Pistoletto‘s most important works, while outside in the park the flags of the Rebirth embassies flutter and the symbol of the Third Paradise spreads out, meek, horizontal, gently integrated with the meadow and its life, with the hemp and mustard plants speaking to us of earth, nourishment, natural cycles and the generous and innocent intelligence of the planet.