Thus art today, along with that of tradition, enters into the production system, already rich in a centuries long tradition of craftsmanship, to build an identity based on the recognition of differences, of multiplicity and singularity.
Now there is an original and extraordinary change going on in the economic-industrial system, that leads beyond the culture of levelling and standardisation.
This is the underlying concept of the Italy in Person, aimed at developing the extraordinary multiplicity and richness of the Italian productive fabric, and its capillary structure of districts made up of often small and family run industries.
The human dimension of enterprise transfers a personal quality to both product and production process: the leading figure of the Country’s entire production is, in effect, the person, in that all the products – from food to clothing, from the home to the environment, from transport to communications – refer to the person.
However, these days there is a need for a new humanism, in which the person is not simply the target of production, but is also the interlocutor.
We have gone beyond the concept of the consumer as passive target for the product, to arrive at a model of production aimed at respect of the person in every aspect, thus human values and the safeguarding of the environment have now taken on the greatest importance.
The Italy in Person project intends to develop all the human and environmental richness of each territory, to arrive at a new way of conceiving production, that considers quality of life, all of the people directly and indirectly involved in the phenomenon of production and the impact it has on both the landscape and society.
At this point the product brings an added value that makes it competitive on the international market, and even offers it as a new model for economic development. Italy in Person proposes itself as symbol of the Country’s identity, and involves two levels of activity, one international and the other domestic.
The international plan centres around a primary exhibition, an artistic installation to be presented at international trade fairs and event promoting Italy as Country System, meaning inserted in exhibitions of Italian products of excellence.
At national level the Italy in Person – project, with one of its subtitles The Country, a work of art – envisages a program of workshops to be held in various regions, provinces and cities, in collaboration with the Industrial Districts, category Associations and Local Authorities, calling together art, culture, enterprise, economy, communications and the Public Administration in an effective co-operation.
The project’s general plan includes the organisation of significant moments for confrontation and thought, through conventions like, in 2004, the Corporate Social Responsibility, Territory, Culture and Made in Italy for successful enterprise convention that involved the Belluno Industrial Association and, in 2005, the Art Culture Creativity Enterprise: Italy as a work of art convention, realised thanks to the collaboration of the Biella Districts Committee and the Biella,The Art of Excellence Foundation.
