“Knowledge that connects”. The events in Milan begin tomorrow
Four monumental steel sculptures are being installed in the Brera Botanical Garden, interacting with the trees, flowerbeds and paths of the historic garden. These works by Loris Cecchini form the centrepiece of “Knowledge that Connects”, the artistic and cultural project promoted by the University of Milan in collaboration with the Brera Academy of Fine Arts and the Mondo Digitale ETS Foundation, curated by Valentino Catricalà, contemporary art curator and artistic director.
The project stems from a collaborative effort between three organisations that work – each with different expertise and roles – on the production and sharing of knowledge. The University’s research, education and ‘third mission’; the Academy’s artistic research and experimentation; and the Foundation’s focus on education, technological innovation and social innovation all find in art a common ground for research and engagement with the city.
Unidata is taking part in the training activities with its own professionals, in its first experience of skills-based volunteering carried out in collaboration with the Fondazione Mondo Digitale. In the artist’s research, the module is a relational unit: a minimal form which, by connecting with others, generates complex structures. The four groups of works selected for Brera develop this principle in different ways: Waterbones explores connection; Sequential Interactions in Alfalfa Chorus explores cooperation; Arborexence explores branching; Airborne explores propagation in space. Their placement in the Brera Botanical Garden, which for two and a half centuries has served a scientific and higher-education function, places this research in dialogue with a living collection.
From research to the city
The programme kicks off tomorrow, Thursday 15 October at 5.00 pm at the Brera Botanical Garden with the unveiling of the works, in the presence of the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Milan Marina Brambilla, the President of the Brera Academy of Fine Arts Marco Galateri di Genola, and the Mondo Digitale Foundation. This will be followed by an in-depth discussion on the cultural value of the project with Andrea Pinotti, lecturer in Aesthetics at the University of Milan, Maurizio Guerri, lecturer at the Academy, the curator Valentino Catricalà and the artist Loris Cecchini. The day continues at the former church of San Carpoforo, at 10 Via Formentini – the Academy’s venue for visual arts activities – with a session dedicated to the Fondazione Mondo Digitale and the communities that have supported its journey. On 16 October, the guided tour will feature experts from the Botanical Garden, Valentino Catricalà and Loris Cecchini; on 17 and 18 October, the tours will be led by staff from the Botanical Garden and the Fondazione Mondo Digitale. The tours offer an opportunity to explore the relationship between art and science and to observe, through the sculptures, the processes of connection, cooperation and growth found in nature. Participation in the University’s events is free of charge, with advance booking required.
Giving back to the community
Making the works accessible to the city also gives the project the significance of giving back: a legacy of artistic and scientific research becomes a shared experience and an opportunity for learning.
‘Knowledge that Connects’ also marks the 25th anniversary of the Fondazione Mondo Digitale. Cecchini’s modular structures offer a way of visualising the impact built up over twenty-five years of social innovation: relationships that generate further relationships, knowledge that spans organisations and communities, and connections capable of creating new possibilities. It is an image that reflects a history forged in collaboration with schools, universities, businesses, institutions, social organisations and citizens.
