U N I D E E - projects by invitation

The Illy Collection
Every year the Illy Coffee Company produces 4 sets of 6 espresso cups in collaboration with two established and two emergent artists. This year the company invited the artists in residence to present their designs. One of these proposals will be realized and rewarded with a prize.

Ermenegildo Zegna
The Ermenegildo Zegna Group is a producer of high quality fabrics and fine men's clothing. Founded in 1910 in Trivero, a small town in the Biella region, it has developed into a world leader in men's fashion, with 30% of the world's market share.
The Group is a family business dedicated to industrial growth and innovation. Alongside its focus on the production of high quality and prestigious products, the group, now managed by the fourth generation of the family, is also committed to a tradition of investment in the environmental culture, started by Emernegildo Zegna in the region and extended in a larger scale. In line with this tradition Anna Zegna invited the Cittadellarte Fondazione Pistoletto and specifically Unidee to develop projects and ideas that make possible a collaboration between art and industry with an international committment.

Sacromonte di Graglia
The idea of the Sacro Monti emerged in the 16th century in the period of the counter reformation in order to bring the teachings of the catholic church closer to the people. The Sacro Monti, "sacred hills", were conceived as an entertaining media for recounting the story of the bible in a popular and dramatic way. People were taken up the hill on a journey with 'stations', chapels, each displaying a different scene from the bible. The Sacro Monte of Graglia, planned at the beginning of the 17th century, was intended to consist of 100 chapels, making it the most impressive in the Piemonte region.
For financial reasons only five chapels on the top of the mountain were built as containers, but never completed and left to total abandonment. A collaboration between the Fondazione Pistoletto and the Opera Pia Santuario di Graglia has now been initiated in order to revitalize the five existent structures. This initiative is coordinated by the architect Giovanni Vachino. Following a visit to the site, the young artists in residence at the Fondazione Pistoletto are engaged in the development of ideas for the elaboration of new and original forms and meanings related to spirituality in our time.