Connection, interaction, dialogue, generation, community, responsibility, society, science, art: these are many of the key words that could be associated with the initiative on socially committed art inspired by the Third Paradise held on 19 September at the Castelporziano Presidential Estate with the participation of neurotypical and neuroatypical people, both children and adults. The day, aiming at dissolving the paradigm of diffidence towards the different, was organised by Fondazione Pistoletto Onlus and Connettivismo within the framework of the project of the Presidency of the Republic Quirinale Contemporaneo, with the scientific direction of Leonardo Zoccante and the artistic direction of Matilde Nuzzo and Francesca Malverti, and the collaboration of the coordinator of the Rebirth/Third Paradise ambassadors Francesco Saverio Teruzzi (all details can be found in a previous article). Castelporziano already hosts an installation of Pistoletto’s sign-symbol created in 2020 for Quirinale Contemporaneo with native essences planted along a one hundred and seventy metre path tracing the trinamic symbol. This new initiative had an extremely important resonance: the performance was presented to Sergio Mattarella on 29 September as part of the closing party of the social initiatives held at the Castelporziano Presidential Estate. “I warmly thank those who have made this event so engaging, like Fondazione Pistoletto,” said the President of the Republic.
The creation of the symbol of the Third Paradise formed by neurotypical and neuroatypical people wanted to emphasise the value that otherness and differences have in a participatory community. “In the wake of Michelangelo Pistoletto’s work,” said the organisers, “the conjunction of art and science, specifically art and neuropsychiatry, emerges in a substantial manner, hence the close collaboration between the artist and Dr. Zoccante: two worlds that need an increasingly open and sincere dialogue so that society can grow strong on solid foundations, tools and awareness. Quoting the founder of Cittadellarte, the Third Paradise makes possible a balance between the various aspects of social life. It prefigures a civilization in which differences are not pushed apart, but brought together to produce convergence, coexistence, understanding, sharing, inclusion and exchange”.
The inspiration for the initiative is rooted in the theory of the Connectivoma, recently published by Zoccante himself: a scientific-interpretative model that goes beyond the traditional approach to autism spectrum disorders, to consider the person in their psychosomatic totality and no longer only their neuropsychic aspects. Likewise, the performance aimed at going beyond the idea of welcoming to that of coexisting, sharing and co-participation not only in art, but also in everyday life. “It is precisely in sharing,” said Zoccante, “that the realisation of inclusion and integration is established, hence the intent of the performance to shape a time and a space of sharing, where the co-participation of an activity lays the foundations for models of coexistence”.
Saverio Teruzzi, who met with President Mattarella on the occasion of the event at Castelporziano, commented on the initiative: “The Third Paradise of Connectivism at Castelporziano, realised thanks to a performance with (some severely) neurodivergent boys and girls, carers, associations and, above all, families, had a truly important significance. I must say that overall it was ‘performatively’ easier than expected, perhaps because of the value of the symbol, or because of that state between magic and grace that art can create. Also, as far as I am concerned, it has never been so simple and manifest to talk about integration and inclusion. In this regard, the vision of the President of the Republic who decided to open his summer residence to the elderly and differently abled was fundamental. It was a real emotion,” concluded the coordinator of the Rebirth/Third Paradise ambassadors, “to shake his hand, to thank him and to hear him say that he thanked us for the work we do and, in particular, Michelangelo Pistoletto for the Third Paradise and the message he brings to the world with his art”.
