“10 Tables for 100 Benches”, in dialogue with Cecilia Pecorelli between culture and art
As part of the project "100 benches for Rome", the coordinator of the Rebirth/Third Paradise ambassadors Francesco Saverio Teruzzi proposes a series of video interviews in the wake of the themes dealt with by the Rebirth Forum Rome. The seventh guest is Cecilia Pecorelli, director of Galleria Continua Roma, who says that “enhancing and preserving our cultural heritage means contributing to the creation of a collective identity”.
 Redazione, 30/04/2021

“It is an opportunity to talk about culture and active citizenship, as if we were at the tables of the Rebirth Forum” with these words Saverio Teruzzi presented the new cycle of interviews proposed in the context of 10 tables for 100 benches and the project 100 benches for Rome*. As reported in our previous article, this is a participatory, socially useful and low-environmental-impact project, which involves the installation of one hundred benches made of recycled plastic in different areas of Rome; in this regard, we remind you that until 30th April it is possible to make a donation – of at least 10 euros – for the collective benches through the crowdfunding campaign on Produzioni dal Basso. With the series of interviews, Saverio gives voice to various actors involved in the Rebirth Forum in Rome and in the related working sites. After the first six episodes – which saw as protagonists the curator of the Museo delle Periferie Giorgio de Finis, the Rebirth/Third Paradise ambassadress and founder of the startups M’AMA.SEEDS and Slow Flow Alessia Montani, the writer, songwriter and lyricist Giulia Ananìa, Elisa and Stefano Battiato from the social promotion association ‘Happy Coaching and Counseling Rome’, the cultural entrepreneur Giovanna Caruso Fendi, and art historian and curator Costantino D’Orazio – we are now publishing the seventh interview. On this occasion, the guest is Cecilia Pecorelli, director of Galleria Continua Roma at The St. Regis.

Why invest in culture?
Because it means investing in the future. Enhancing and preserving our cultural heritage means contributing to the creation of a collective identity. In Italy, we have one of the most important cultural and artistic heritages, and I therefore think that we all have an obligation and a duty to preserve it, protect it and above all enhance it.

What will be the role of art in the cities of 2030?
As the heads of Galleria Continua – for which I work – once said, we are now on a ship in the middle of a storm and we are trying to get out of it. I think that art is one of the lifeboats that we have available and we need to exploit. An approach towards the community is an innovative element which I have recently seen in many works by artists who are more and more distant from the avant-garde principle of ​​breaking with the canons to engage with the world outside of the official art context instead. I think it is now important for them to create actions on territories to involve the real lives of people.

A definition for Rome and three words about its future.
Defining Rome is quite a task. Rome is a big museum, a living room that must be walked through on tiptoe. Rome was one of the first Western cities to open up to different ethnic groups. Today an adulating wind, which may be the Ponentino, has blocked and prevented many former multicultural Romans from keeping up with international times. I think it’s time to make this wind change. One of this city’s important objectives is to look at itself and try to establish a synergy between different situations coexisting in the capital.
The three words about the future of Rome are therefore synergy, interculture and openness.