In 2024, the UNIDEE Residency Programs of Cittadellarte-Fondazione Pistoletto celebrate 25 years of artistic residencies dedicated to art and social transformation. Founded in 1999 by Michelangelo Pistoletto, the residency programs have seen the participation of thousand of artists and cultural professionals from more than 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, the 26th edition of Arte al Centro focuses on the 25 years of UNIDEE Residency Programs, reflecting on the past, present, and future of artistic residencies for social transformation. The aim of the exhibition and the accompanying program for the inauguration is to share how Cittadellarte and the UNIDEE Residency Programs have been fertile ground for personal, collective, and social transformation.
The group exhibition, conceived as an Open Studio, was realized through an open call to over a thousand residents and mentors from the UNIDEE network and includes works by international artists such as Mae Aguinaldo Mapa, Nico Angiuli, Mariangela Aponte Núñez, Laurent Barnavon, Lindsay Benedict, Ilaria Biotti, Charles-Antoine Blais Métivier, Michael Blum, Beatrice Catanzaro, David Cañavate, Andrea Caretto and Raffaella Spagna, Rafram Chaddad, Luigi Coppola, Giulia Filippi, Stephanie Hanna, Mako Ishizuka, Emily Jacir, Charlie Jeffery, Cees Krijnen, Olga Ledis, Natalia Ludmila, George Moraitis, Karl Logge & Marta Romani, Matthew Mazzotta, Katia Meneghini, Ryts Monet, Alice Pedroletti, PLoT (Colette Lewis, Marilyn Lennon and Elinor Rivers), Anastasia Ryabova, Gloria Safont-Tria, Alejandro Vásquez Salinas, Juan E. Sandoval, Chiara Sgaramella, and Kosta Tonev. Although few of the works were created during the residencies, the experience of Biella continues to influence the artists’ production profoundly. Among others, some works have been produced for the 500X1000 project and in the context of the RESÓ program.
The exhibition includes video screenings and archival materials with anecdotes, memories, reflections, and texts to narrate what it has meant to be part of UNIDEE from 1999 to today. If the true residency begins when returning home with new artistic and human experiences, we asked everyone how their time in Biella continues to resonate in their lives. Additionally, over 60 postcard-sized works created by former residents will be displayed, serving as messages that offer a view of the present through the memory of UNIDEE.
The exhibition is the perfect opportunity to begin shaping an archive of UNIDEE, documenting the evolution of artists and socially engaged projects, and providing an essential foundation for the program’s future. Indeed, beyond organising countless initiatives developed within UNIDEE over the years (the various editions of Circulart, Attraverso i Muri, El puente_lab, Waiting for Water, Caravan Residency Program, and so on), the archive includes a focus on the long-standing partnerships that have supported the program for over twenty years, which are Fondazione Zegna, illycaffè S.p.A, Ecotermica, A.M. Qattan Foundation (Palestine), and Inlaks Foundation (India).
The exhibition display, designed and created by GRRIZ studio, uses recycled materials from the Cittadellarte storage, such as wood and metal supports, arranged horizontally to form the exhibition structures. The display is conceived to support a collective narrative through a sustainable and creative approach.
On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the UNIDEE Residency Programs, from September 21 to 25, a public program will be held with performances, workshops, and family activities organized with UNIDEE Alumni. The activities will extend throughout Biella with “UNIDEE in the City,” involving galleries, cultural associations, commercial activities, and cinemas to highlight the connections between the residency program and public space.
And finally, talks, conferences, and meetings will address emerging art-related issues 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, Ovidiu Țichindeleanu, Mick Wilson.
The programme aims to reflect on the transformation of socially engaged artistic practices over the past twenty-five years, attempting to outline the many possibilities of becoming an art that inherently crosses into other disciplines. The themes addressed reflect emerging and urgent issues of contemporary society: from the ecological turn and the call to rethink the needs and specificities of places in relation to those who inhabit them; to new configurations for future artistic institutions, how they can be imagined and implemented; the pedagogical dimension as an essential condition of socially engaged art; and hospitality as a method within the context of artistic residencies as germinal places for acquiring new capacities.
UNIDEE Advisory Board
