Lunch Box is a series of four meetings led by philosopher and writer Ilaria Gaspari, live streamed on the Peggy Guggenheim Collection’s YouTube and LinkedIn channels during lunch break hours.

Are art and culture integral parts of our daily, working lives?

For twenty minutes on four Tuesdays in October, we will try answering this question by listening to four different aspirations, jobs, and interpretations of the subject.

Chiara Pavan, Chef at the Venissa restaurant; Carolina Cucinelli, Co-President, Co-Creative Director, and Board Member of Bruno Cucinelli S.p.A; Gloria Campaner, internationally acclaimed pianist; and Antonio Calabrò, Director of Fondazione Pirelli, President of Museimpresa and of Fondazione Assolombarda, will discuss their views on the transformative, disturbing, irreverent, and visionary power of culture.

Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.

Pablo Picasso

Although we are might not be aware of it, art and culture are an integral and crucial part of our daily lives. Through their transformative power, they encourage us to think critically about contemporary society. Is this also the case for our professional lives? Culture, art, and creativity have often inspired and determined the business choices of Italian entrepreneurship. The growth of companies has always been tied to art and creativity—think of the close relationship between Fortunato Depero and the Campari Group, or of the collaborations between Surrealist artists and great fashion houses such as Chanel and Schiapparelli in the early 20th century, to name just a few.

The conversations are presented by Ilaria Gaspari

Ilaria Gaspari was born in Milan. She studied philosophy at the Scuola Normale di Pisa and was awarded a PhD from by Paris I Penthéon-Sorbonne University. In 2015 she published her first novel, Etica dell’aquario (Voland). This was followed by Ragioni e sentimenti. L’amore preso con filosofia (Sonzogno) in 2018; Lezioni di felicità. Esercizi filosofici per il buon uso della vita (Einaudi) in 2019, translated into various languages; and Vita segreta delle Emozioni (Einaudi) in May 2021, which is currently being translated. She has collaborated with various newspapers and Rai Radio 3, and runs writing workshops at Scuola Holden in Turin and Scuola Omero in Rome.