Among the many and varied forms of collaboration between art and business there is often the path of commissioning works linked to production paths and originating from a close and significant relationship between entrepreneurial contexts and artistic research. Making its debut along this trajectory comes the first edition ofArcolaio Art Prizecreated by the Abruzzo textile company Arcolaio Srl and entrusted to the curator Serena Schioppa in collaboration with Giulia Floris. The first artist invited to participate in the prize, and in the residency connected to it, is Francis Offman (Butare, 1987; lives and works in Bologna), working in the area these days.
The first edition of the Arcolaio Art Prize
The prize was created by the textile company Spinning wheel, based in San Nicolò a Tordino (TE) and specialized in jacquard weaving, at the end of 2023, on the occasion of the 70th year since its foundation. The target? Giving a visual artist the opportunity to “create a work of art through the resources and technical knowledge of the Arcolaio”the organizers explain, “giving life to a creation in line with the values of connection with the territory and sustainability of the materials that the company promotes”.
With the first debut edition of 2024 and imagined to live and evolve in the future and in the long term, the Arcolaio Art Prize has articulated its first steps through the invitation to the well-known Rwandan artist, who, after a period of research already underway last spring, he is currently in the midst of a residency in the Abruzzo territory of the Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga National Park, to develop a new work inspired by the world of Arcolaio. Starting from the summer, various moments will also be defined in which to return and present the results of this form of contemporary patronage to the public.
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The collaboration between the Arcolaio company and the artist Francis Offman
With a seventy-year history, the Arcolaio company, started in 1953, is now in its third generation and is led by the three sisters Olga, Mariana and Mariachiara Perticara, grandchildren of the founders Lucia and Antonio. It was Olga, CEO of the company, who oriented herself towards a dialogue with the art world, which now finds substance in the Arcolaio Art Prize and in its first “pilot” edition, by invitation, in order to be able to give an initial impression to its developments. Then allowing this path to evolve naturally in future seasons and expand, also through dedicated calls and relationships and partnerships, in the territory and in art, which contribute to the consolidation and growth of the prize and its opportunities.
“We have always been driven by the need for consistency with who we are and with our values, but also by a need for growth, personal first of all” tells Olga Perticara “seeking a comparison with visions and languages different from ours: in opening up to the new, to what does not belong to us – strengthened by our roots – we have always recognized a ‘compass of values’ which has probably led us to the most exciting experiences of these years . I believe that the birth of a project like Arcolaio Art Prize can be traced back to this attitude”.
Francis Offman’s residency and artistic commission for Arcolaio
Arcolaio’s collaboration with artists did not only begin in the last year, but has its roots in the production of the company itself, which has always sought new visions and suggestions in visual art. “About ten years ago we started working with artists who had never dealt with the world of weaving and I believe that something original, authentic was born from this collaboration”continues Perticara, “which marked our path and theirs”. Precisely in this vein we can better understand how natural and organic the project is now being carried out by Offmann.
His work will in fact be created in jacquard weavingthe company’s figure in fact, and will then be accompanied by the putting into production of one capsule collection signed Arcolaio and inspired by the artist’s practice. “Arcolaio Art Prize has the ambition to continue to create this mutual wealth: on the one hand to continue to give the company the opportunity to work with those who have broader visions than ours, on the other to offer artists the possibility of accessing tools that are not so obvious in the artistic field”, is Olga Perticara’s comment again. To highlight, in a dynamic union between art and design, tradition and new technologies, this double movement, in which visual art is inspired by production nuclei and the company absorbs inspiration from artistic research.
Cristina Masturzo
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