Ways of Becoming

As I prepare for the dialogue event ‘Art to the People – What Art Brings to Urban Space!’ on 17 September 2025 at the nGbK Berlin, I read that in Berlin, the “Draussenstadt” format and almost all ‘Art in Public Space’ have been cut from the budget. At the same time, I remember Cittadellarte, Piedmont, Italy. As a writer in residence, I experienced the anniversary of the UNIDEE residency programme of Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto in Biella.

For 25 years, it has supported artists who connect art with social change. I was invited by the artistic advisory board (Beatrice Catanzaro, Andy Abbott, Alessandra Saviotti and Juan E. Sandoval). In November, I also served as a mentor alongside Beatrice Catanzaro in the module ‘Ways of Practising Conviviality: The Artist as Host.’ Beatrice and I share many years of professional experience, particularly in the context of Palestine. Beatrice initiated the project ‘Bait al Karama’ in Nablus, together with Fatima Kadumy and Cristiana Bottigella.

Stiftung Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto
Launched in 1999, the UNIDEE residency programme has since welcomed thousands of artists and cultural practitioners from 52 countries and has become a global reference point for socially engaged art. This ‘university of ideas’ is run by a team and an artistic advisory board. Art historian Gregory Sholette described it in his 2010 book Dark Matter: Art and Politics in the Age of Enterprise Culture as "a visionary and living investment in the future of innovative, intellectually stimulating and socially engaged cultural practices".

UNIDEE is at the heart of the foundation founded by artist Michelangelo Pistoletto (1933) as an international network for cultural and social innovators. It works in a modular and project-based manner with various 'Uffizi' focusing on art, education, fashion, work, architecture, food, ecology and communication. It sees itself as a platform for ‘artivists’ who combine art and social change. The flat, network-like structure promotes interdisciplinary collaboration.

The Pistoletto family is closely involved: Michelangelo's wife Maria lives with him on the foundation's premises, their daughter Armona is the foundation's president and her husband Paolo Naldini is its director. The site in Biella encompasses restored textile industry buildings with studios, event spaces, accommodation and offices.

The anniversary

As writer in residence, I experienced Cittadellarte during a particularly intense phase. My constant conversation partner was media theorist Vincenzo Estremo, also writer in residence. Together we sorted through our observations on art, context, social transfer and relationships. On 21 September, the anniversary exhibition opened with the key question of how art can initiate processes of change.

Book presentations, lectures, discussions and performances complemented the programme. One highlight was the collective game (d)estructura by the El Puente_Lab collective, which invited participants to negotiate values in life. Originally developed for Havana in 2016, it questioned Maslow's hierarchy of needs. In Biella, other priorities also came to light, pointing to the cultural relativity of supposedly universal values. The game reflects the perspective of a predominantly white middle and upper class and thus became a metaphor for UNIDEE: the space for collective decisions and experimental coexistence.

The work ‘PLoT’ by Colette Lewis, Marilyn Lennon and Elinor Rivers addressed land use in Cork, Ireland, for the next 200 years. It placed individual needs in a larger context and linked them to ethical questions of common property management. The symposium reflected on the transformation of socially engaged art and its intersections with other disciplines. Topics included the ecological transition, new configurations for art institutions, the educational dimension of socially engaged art, and hospitality as a method. Input was provided by Andy Abbott, Valerio del Baglivo, 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, and myself.

For four days, 120 participants celebrated with performances, open mic sessions, workshops, fanzine -making, tango sessions, strolling dialogues – and dancing late into the night. Interventions in Biella, implemented together with local partners, highlighted the foundation's close connection to the region. With ‘Demopráctica’, Cittadellarte is working, among other things, on the implementation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and promoting democracy in action.

How to Archive Relationships
The panel discussion ‘Activating the archive for change’ asked how the UNIDEE archive can remain a living resource for future generations. Mick Wilson (HDK-Valand Gothenburg) emphasised that archives of socially engaged art must be dynamic in order to preserve fleeting processes and relationships. Alessandra Saviotti, an expert on Arte Útil, discussed how this practice can transform educational institutions. Developed by artist Tania Bruguera, the concept understands art as a tool for solving social, political or ecological problems.

Transformation is the big sister of change.

In ‘Stone Age Economics’, Marshall Sahlins distinguishes between three transformative moments: taking, accepting and sharing. The latter forms the basis of socially engaged art, which turns away from capitalist logics of exploitation. In a way, Pistoletto reminds us of this when he calls for sacrifice in order to build a de facto community connected by shared feelings and a commitment to transforming society. For him, the art of the future is ‘art for social change.’ In his opening speech, he encouraged artists to engage with all aspects of life.

UNIDEE shows how encounters in a shared creative space can initiate change. This practice is reminiscent of Horton and Freire's ‘We Make the Road by Walking’: a journey into the unknown, where relationships and surroundings generate new knowledge. UNIDEE is a decentralised network in which learning takes place collectively and participatively. Relationships that arise there develop into works of art, marriages, businesses and other life practices. Pistoletto's understanding of transformation is about what we can only know together. Transformation requires the dismantling of old systems and collective efforts through self-empowerment, partnerships and social engagement.

Pistoletto's own role changed from that of an individual artist to a mediator of collective generosity. This ethos shapes UNIDEE: sponsored residencies, shared meals and mutual care create a culture of reciprocity. In ‘Dark Matter’, Gregory Sholette asks: ‘Could generosity be a form of resistance?’ Relationships would thus become the most valuable return on investment.

Conclusion
Pistoletto calls on artists to leave the exclusive realm of art and become involved in all areas of society in order to regenerate social structures.

Pistoletto's call seems almost prophetic in Berlin: artists are indeed leaving the exclusive realm of art – but not primarily out of a desire to regenerate social structures, but rather to continue their art alongside their paid work as unpaid labour in structures often far removed from art. Double work for one income. So is this the promised transformation?

With the withdrawal of state funding and the loss of free spaces, the artistic perspective is increasingly disappearing from the formation of societal public life. Private foundations can only cushion this loss to a limited extent. ‘UNIDEE invites us to creatively destroy the familiar in order to explore the unknown,’ said Jeanne van Heeswijk in 2024. Artists will (have to) find the strength to develop the humus for new contexts, arts, social transfer and relationships out of destruction.