3. about UNIDEE

UNIDEE in Residence is an international residence program open to students and graduates of various university faculties, to artists and to professionals from any country in the world.

The growing interest in researching and developing ideas in all sectors of society is not interpreted by UNIDEE in generic terms but as the need for a creative contribution to transformation in all areas of activity. UNIDEE offers all the course participants an experience unlike anything offered in any other university or academic program. Work is grounded in an imaginative and research-oriented practice that operates within each discipline and is directed towards the responsible transformation of society.

Michelangelo Pistoletto explains the “Gabbia Specchio” to the residents (Cittadellarte photo archive)

The Unidee space during the first days of the residency (Cittadellarte photo archive)

UNIDEE University of Ideas is the main activity of Cittadellarte-Fondazione Pistoletto‘s Education office, and operates in synergy with the other Cittadellarte offices.
UNIDEE is based on the following declaration by the artist Michelangelo Pistoletto: “Art is the most sensitive and comprehensive expression of thought, and the time has come for the artist to assume responsibility for establishing communication between every other human activity, from economics to politics, from science to religion, from education to behaviour, in brief all areas of the social fabric” (Progetto Arte manifesto, 1994 – see the complete pdf version).

UNIDEE is a workshop where the arts – music, visual arts, theatre, literature, dance, photography, architecture and design – are integrated with humanistic, scientific and social disciplines such as economics, politics, education and religion.

UNIDEE places artistic creativity at the centre of research directed towards the responsible transformation of society. The aim is to react to the profound contradictions stemming from the contrast between the exponential growth of technological systems (closely related to economic and financial systems), in other words so-called “progress”, and the “regress” produced by the tragic deterioration of the planet and the inhuman conditions of physical and moral poverty to which a large part of the world’s population is subjected.

UNIDEE is directed in particular towards people with project development skills who are capable of making proposals for transformation in all areas of the social fabric. This regards all orders of realization – from the practical, everyday object to the large-scale physical habitat and mental habitus.