“Good evening from Biella! We are on the roof of Cittadellarte, an actual factory of culture in its widest sense, instituted by Pistoletto in the ‘90s. It is today the symbol of Biella’s will to find new ways to develop and strengthen its natural industrial inclination”. With these words the journalist Enrico Bona presented the “TG Itinerante” report – a feature of RAI 3 Piemonte News – broadcast on Friday 14th March at 19.30 live from Cittadellarte. Fondazione Pistoletto was itself under the spotlight: the reporter, after interviewing Francesco Ferraris, president of the Young Entrepreneurs Association of Biella’s Industrial Union, launched a piece in which his colleague Claudia Pregno was conversing with Michelangelo Pistoletto. The exchange was centred on the Third Paradise and the artist’s social art. “We are constantly surrounded by contrasts – observed the artist – and we can’t say ‘this is good and that is bad’. There’s good and bad everywhere. We have to learn to combine them and create the energy for a new society”. The journalist then talked about the Mirror Paintings and the Reintegrated Apple. “There are a lot of artists – added Pistoletto – who, like me, are assuming responsibilities not only for themselves but also for the community”.

It was then back to Enrico Bona, who interviewed Paolo Naldini, the director of Cittadellarte. “Cittadellarte – argued Naldini – is essentially a school teaching how to take art directly into all the sectors of the social fabric. Not so much to represent them figuratively, as for example a mural might illustrate the conditions of the homeless in a city, but rather to work with architects, urban planners, administrators, backers, to plan and build affordable houses in which homeless people could go and live”.
The reporter then enquired about the students working at Cittadellarte: “We currently have 25 students from the Arnhem Academy staying at Cittadellarte, – answered Naldini – we receive about 150 a year, and we have developed 5.000 so far. Together with this educational activity, we have founded the movement of the Third Paradise: 150 embassies all over the world working in network with the United Nations and involving over 2.5 million people”. The third guest interviewed by Enrico Bona was Silvano Esposito, director of the local twice-weekly newspaper “Il Biellese”.

Please click here to see the broadcast.