“Architecture Biennale 2023”, the DAAR collective is awarded the Golden Lion The DAAR (composed of architects Alessandro Petti and Sandi Hilal) received the Golden Lion for the best participation in the 18th International Architecture Exhibition entitled "The Laboratory of the Future", curated by Lesley Lokko as part of the Architecture Venice Biennale. The international jury awarded the duo "for their long-standing commitment to deep political engagement with architectural practices and learnings about decolonisation in Palestine and Europe". Fondazione Pistoletto symbolically joins in the celebrations for the prestigious achievement: the collective has fostered a long artistic collaboration with Unidee Residency Programs and Cittadellarte. Redazione, 23/05/2023 Read more
Exquisite Corpse: reminiscences of an open studio On Tuesday 29 November 2022, Fondazione Pistoletto hosted the open studio 'EXQUISITE CORPSE', presenting to the public the works in progress by the artists participating in the UNIDEE 2022 research residency. In this article, we will go into more details about their artistic research through their statements. Cecilia Bisatti, 12/12/2022 Read more
Sustainable and art for society: Biella offers 20 full exemptions for Accademia Unidee’s three-year courses Fondazione Pistoletto's Accademia Unidee, an institute of higher education based in Biella, created to build a sustainable vision of a possible balance between artifice and nature, is offering two three-year courses: one in Art for Social Sustainability and one in Sustainable Fashion. Exemptions (up to 100%) and scholarships are available to reward students’ motivation to attend its courses. Redazione, 02/11/2022 Read more
CISP and UNIDEE Residency Programs, at Cittadellarte a residency involving seven artists from Kenya and Somalia The three-week artistic residency started on 7 September. It will allow the artists from the two African states to discover and study the Venice Biennale, Milan, Turin and Fondazione Pistoletto. The experience is the last phase of a long-lasting project aimed at facilitating the inclusion, empowerment and connection of young people in the creative sector in Africa and Europe, which the International Committee for the Development of Peoples has been conducting for more than a year with some local and European partners. Redazione, 09/09/2022 Read more
“UNIDEE Grand Tour”, artist Claire Bouffay’s residency dealt with archaeology, sculpture, history of money and territory From October 17 to November 30, Claire Bouffay lived at Cittadellarte and participated in the UNIDEE Labs 2021 as part of the project "Grand Tour" of the Institut Français Italia (IFI) and the Franco-German Youth Office (FGYO). The artist, in a cognitive and inspirational process, explored places and organisations of the Biellese territory linked to her artistic research, shifting her interest between nature and culture, and conducted a study on the history of money and on the experimentation of sculptural processes. Luca Deias, 28/03/2022 Read more
“Caravan residency program: Thinking with Alexandria”, at Cittadellarte the start of a residency about culture, cooperation and planning 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. Luca Deias, 22/03/2022 Read more
Embedded art practice and the future of Biella The last weekly module of last year’s UNIDEE Residency in partnership with Fondazione Zegna was held in December 2021, and saw a group of artists explore the present and imagine the future of tourism in Biella, Oasi Zegna and the “wool” province. In order to give shape to this process, the participants entered into conversation with numerous experts on the themes addressed during the residency: artists from Cittadellarte, the staff of Fondazione Zegna, a hiking guide, a basket maker, a brewer and an expert in wild herbs. The programme of the module also led to an immersive experience around the natural elements of the territory, such as the water of the rivers, the beech trees of the Oasi Zegna, the “carabo d'Olimpia” (a type of beetle) and the snow. Luca Deias, 22/02/2022 Read more
“UNIDEE LABS 2021/2022”, when socially engaged art transcends the boundaires of the pandemic Last November, Fondazione Pistoletto hosted a new type of UNIDEE module: for the occasion the participating artists shared and carried out new investigations into their artistic practice under the guidance of a team of international mentors, interfacing with the context of Cittadellarte and the Biellese wool territory in a multi-level process of decontextualisation. Through seminars, meetings, guided tours, collective and individual explorations, the residents delved into the new relations between pandemic and socially engaged art, each with their own creative approach and with the contaminations offered by the organised activities, identifying new methodologies and tools applicable to their own research projects. The labs 'Artwork as Toolkit' and 'Tools for the Commons' will be launched in March 2022. Luca Deias, 11/02/2022 Read more
