UNIDEE - residency programs

Cittadellarte

In 1999 Michelangelo Pistoletto founded Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto’s programme of artists’ residencies for art and social transformation. A programme open to artists and professionals from all over the world who reside at Cittadellarte for a certain period of time; the programme aims at providing instruments for “artivators”, i.e. subjects working at the boundaries between artistic practices, processes of social change and collaborations with communities external to the art world, weaving together moments of interdisciplinary research, exchange of knowledge and practical activities; the objective of the programme is to provide the participants with the inspiration, motivation and instruments to activate, develop or strengthen artistic initiatives based on the involvement of local ecologies. UNIDEE-University of Ideas started as an international programme of 4-month residencies (1999-2013), to then evolve this model focusing on annual themes and developing 4 types of residency of different durations and with different objectives, grouped under the general heading of UNIDEE Residency Programs: UNIDEE Modules, Research Residency, Connective Residency and Organisations in Residency.

The UNIDEE Modules are one-week-long intensive residential modules open to students, professionals and activists, as well as to members of the general society. They are held by mentors with the support of guests, for groups of 10-12 participants. The modules are developed according to a horizontal teaching method, based on collective discussion and exchange of knowledge.

• Research Residency: they are residencies for international artists organised with partner institutions, created to support the practice of artists from non-Western countries. During their stay at Cittadellarte, the artists are led along a process based on the investigation of specific aspects linked to a social responsible transformation, through debates and meetings with curators, artists and operators from the civil society, studio visits by experts, conferences with guests, visits to exhibitions and places relevant to the topics examined, etc. In terms of production, the residencies aim at facilitating the generation of exhibition projects, events, public debates, publications, etc. Among the long-standing partners are A.M. Qattan Foundation (Palestine), Yarat Contemporary Art Center (Azerbaijan), Inlaks Foundation (India).
• The Connective Residency, active since 2015, is a six-month programme open to Italian and international single artists or collectives interested in exploring and analysing the themes of social responsible transformation, selected by invitation. The objective is to establish active connections between the practices of the resident artists and the contents examined within the UNIDEE Modules.
• The section Organisations in Residency has been active since 2018 and it offers tailor-made workshops for partner institutions that share aspects of Cittadellarte’s vision. These one-week- or one-weekend-long workshops are conceived for students, social entrepreneurs, cultural project managers interested in exploring the themes Cittadellarte has always been working on through its Uffizi: social responsibility, urban transformation, artistic participatory processes, demopraxy, alternative models of local economic development, sustainability in fashion and in the building industry, etc. Linnaeus University with its programme Design + Change, the University of Milano-Bicocca, the Italian Red Cross, Italia che cambia with the German association Inwole are some of the partners in the project.

Events at Cittadellarte such as exhibitions, conferences, performances, and workshops represent an integral part of the time spent at UNIDEE.

Participants will be accommodated in single rooms with the use of a shared bathroom. Cittadellarte for each room provides bed linen and 2 towels. Each bathroom has a hair dryer and hand soap.
It is also possible to request an iron at the Cittadellarte Store during opening hours.
For residents staying in Cittadellarte for several weeks there are two shared houses with single rooms and a shared bathroom, a kitchen and a living room.

Depending on the residency format, please enquire via email.

All participants have free access to:

• a seminar module / meeting room
• Cittadellarte library
• saladivani (a space to share with the residents to cook and spend time together)
• laundry

About Biella: Cittadellarte is located within the grade listed premises of the former Trombetta Wool Mill, a testimony of Biella’s past as one of the first European hubs within the textile industry. Biella is a city of almost 50,000 inhabitants, located at 30 km from Ivrea, 75 Km from Turin, 85 km from Aosta, 100 km from Milan and 160 Km from Genoa. Biella is known for its textile industry, the beauty of its nature (it is located at the foot of the Alps), its rice fields, for its flora and fauna, for its water springs and as a pilgrimage destination.