The Peggy Guggenheim Collection presents Art 4 a Better Future: Art, Sustainability, and Innovation
Venice, June 29, 2023—What is art’s role in promoting change and encouraging discussions on global issues? In what way can Art, Nature, and Technology help us rethink our relationship with the world around us? The Peggy Guggenheim Collection aims to tackle these questions through Art 4 a Better Future: Art, Sustainability, and Innovation, a program centered on topics related to Art and Sustainability as agents of change towards a sustainable future. Taking place over three meetings, two of which are open to the public, the program merges humanistic and scientific knowledge and counts on the collaboration of two prestigious cultural and business institutions, THE NEW INSTITUTE Center for Environmental Humanities (NICHE) at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, and CUOA Business School. The project also takes place under the auspices of CNR-ISPC (the Institute of Heritage Science – National Research Council), ASviS (the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development), Confindustria Veneto Est, SMACT Competence Center, Wetlands, and with the technical support of PwC and the media partnership of Domus.
On Friday, June 30, the museum’s sculpture garden hosts the first meeting, Enacting Change: The Role of Art. Participation is by invitation only, and speakers include: Karole P.B. Vail, Director of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection; Francesca Tarocco, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Director of THE NEW INSTITUTE Center for Environmental Humanities (NICHE); Cristina Baldacci, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage, THE NEW INSTITUTE Center for Environmental Humanities (NICHE), and the scientific supervisor of the program; Laura Onofri, Senior Consultant of the World Bank, and Associate Partner of Metroeconomica; and Francesco Ferrara, Partner at Pwc Italia – ESG Leader. A panel of entrepreneurs will also participate, contributing examples of best practices developed by their companies. The second meeting, Taking Care: Towards an Ecology of Culture in Art, Science, and Technology, is open upon registration. Speakers include Costanza Miliani, Director of the Institute of Heritage Science of CNR; Luciano Pensabene Buemi, Conservator of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection; artist Giorgio Andrea Calò; and Luca Costantino, co-founder of Wetlands. The final event takes place on Friday, November 17, at CUOA Business School’s campus in Altavilla Vicentina. Titled Imagining Potential Futures: New Paradigms, it features contributions by Antonio Calabrò, Head of Institutional Affairs and Senior Advisor Culture, Pirelli SpA; Walter Bertin, founder and CEO of Labomar; and Matteo Faggin, General Manager of SMACT Competence Center, among others.
Art 4 a Better Future: Art, Sustainability, and Innovation ignites a conversation between experts in different fields, with the goal of raising awareness on topics related to climate change and social, environmental, and economic sustainability. Art, the natural environment, human behavior, and mediating technologies are at the heart of an interactional system that manifests, to an increasing degree, the fragility of the planet’s ecosystems and the need for new critical and transdisciplinary practices. Art 4 a Better Future: Art, Sustainability, and Innovation therefore focuses on the relationship between Art, Nature, Science, and Technology, with the museum providing a space for experimentation that promotes sustainability, encourages open discussions on contemporary issues, brings together humanistic and scientific knowledge, fosters openness, inclusion, and active participation, and supports intersectoral debates regarding social and environmental issues.
The meetings are intended as discussion and exchange panels, and count on the participation of university professors, researchers, academicians, but also managers and entrepreneurs, who will share their point on view on different ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) practices—particularly CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and DE&I (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) actions, research and innovation related to Green & Circular Economy theories, and innovative business models. The Peggy Guggenheim Collection will share its own environmental and economic sustainability efforts, as well as its innovative conservation, education, and social inclusion projects, organized thanks to collaborations with Guggenheim Intrapresæ corporate members and other leading cultural institutions and organizations.