Grosseto. The Municipality of Grosseto inaugurates i new spaces of the Chelliana library with Design Function Art, an event curated by designer Alessandro Corina.
From Monday 8th to Wednesday 10th July the heart of the city will be the location for talks, exhibitions and events to celebrate the complete reopening of Palazzo Mensiniwhich, with an urban regeneration project worth around 4 million euros, is returned to the people of Grosseto in a completely new guise.
“This conference represents a moment of great emotion – underlines the mayor of Grosseto, Antonfrancesco Vivarelli Colonna -. My candidacy for mayor had not yet been made official when, with my future administration colleagues, we were already planning the dream of bringing the Chelliana library back to the centre. I especially thank the councilor for culture Luca Agresti for having inspired, launched and supported this project. Luca is a great politician, he has been and continues to be a great point of reference for me. The credit for having brought the Chelliana back to its original location goes entirely to him. I also thank Anna Bonelli, director of the library, to whom at the beginning of my first mandate I promised that the Chelliana would return to the centre”.
“If we have achieved this result, it is thanks to the entire municipal administration and the great leadership ability of the mayor – declares the councilor for culture, Luca Agresti –. When engaging in politics, the most beautiful moment is when the relationship between the idea and the action materializes. We want to ensure that the historic center increasingly becomes the hub of cultural initiatives: just think that in eight years we have invested four million to bring the Chelliana back to Palazzo Mensini. From 8 to 10 July we will present the library and the literary garden to the city, they are two wonderful works.”
“Today we proudly celebrate the conclusion of the restoration work on Palazzo Mensini and the complete return of the Chelliana library to its renovated location – says the councilor Riccardo Ginanneschi –. The works saw two steps: the first in 2018-2019 and the second from 2023 to 2024, when the regeneration of the building was completed. Today the library returns to the city completely renovated, with the opening of a new literary garden available for events and reviews. Palazzo Mensini becomes an extraordinary opportunity to convey experiences, sociality and shared meanings, influencing the ways in which the community experiences the context of the territory”.
“The project in its entirety suggests conceiving the nature of social innovation in global terms, i.e. integrating the theme of the context-specific (the library and its cultural meaning) with that of the place-specific (the restoration of external relevance) – explains Anna Bonelli, director of Chelliana -. In 2022, the administration participated in the call for proposals on urban regeneration promoted by the Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze Foundation to support innovative projects for the recovery and reactivation of indoor or outdoor spaces: in fact, the project ‘The re-emerged library’ concerns the intervention of ‘Redevelopment, valorisation and use of the area pertaining to the Chelliana municipal library, called literary garden’, conceived as a space connected to the library, open to the community and which has in itself a strong public value and an important symbolic meaning, dedicating in particularly the area dedicated to the Grosseto writer Luciano Bianciardi”.
To celebrate this important milestone, the Municipality of Grosseto has chosen the designer from Grosseto Alessandro Corinacurator of Design Function Art, which will reach its second edition in 2024: “I wanted to donate this event to my city which I presented for the first time in 2022. Humanity, imagination and courage are the values that inspire all of my projects – explains the designer – . Values that will be at the center of every initiative during the event, which aims to inspire and involve a wide range of audiences. The event will present three fascinating concepts that will explore the connections between ‘design, function and art’, offering the public a unique opportunity to investigate the combination of creativity, functionality and beauty, to discuss fundamental concepts of design and celebrate the evolution of human ingenuity towards the common good. Finally, heartfelt thanks to all the partners who believed in this project.”
The 2024 theme, “The beauty of design, together with its comfort and its usefulness and with the art of yesterday and today evolves through emotion and point of view”, will be based on three fundamental concepts: design , function and art. All through meetings, exhibitions, initiatives and different places.
The three days of events see the partnership of the Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze Foundation, the Diocese of Grosseto, the Grosseto Cultura Foundation and Banca Tema. The supporters of the initiative are Rrd, Tiemme, Generali, Aurelia Antica shopping center, L’Uva e il malto, the technical partners Alivar, Cava, Smeg, Hypermaremma, Giuseppe Lo Schiavo.
“The Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze Foundation and the Municipality of Grosseto travel hand in hand – points out Carlo Vellutinimember of the Board of Directors of the Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze Foundation –, with the shared objective of creating spaces and places of culture in Grosseto. This teamwork allowed us to achieve great results”
The program of events
Concept 1 – Design
The first round table, inaugurated by the mayor Antonfrancesco Vivarelli Colonna, the councilor for culture Luca Agresti, the councilor for public works Riccardo Ginanneschi and the director of the Chelliana Anna Bonelli, will take place in the Teatro degli Industri Monday 8 July at 6pm.
The theme chosen is that of design, with reference to the evolution of seating and small appliances over the last century.
The event will see the participation of contemporary designers of national and international fame, Matteo Bazzicalupo and Raffaella Mangiarotti, designers of deepdesign and Smeg, the Angelettiruzza design studio and Alessandro Corina. The journalist Elena Cattaneo will moderate.
The exhibition “The evolution of the seat”
The exhibition is dedicated to the evolution of the seat, a demonstration of how these design objects have evolved in terms of aesthetics, beauty, and also practicality and comfort. A journey through time, the talent and art of the most famous designer-architects such as the Finnish Eero Saarinen, the Austrian Josef Hoffmann, the Hungarian Marcel Breuer, the French Pierre Chareau, the Irish Eileen Gray, the German Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe, up to the expression and products of modern brands such as Alivar, MyHome Collection, Mvsevm and Cava.
The exhibition “Craftsmanship, design and its colour”
The development relating to the design of objects and its usefulness are also emblematic for small household appliances, for which the experience of the Smeg brand constitutes an exemplary story: no longer just practical and simple objects dedicated to daily use but real pieces collectible design. The iconic Smeg objects, design by deepdesign, will be placed on a wooden installation designed specifically for the exhibition by Alessandro Corina and created by the artist Marco Celeghin.
The exhibitions are located in the Chelliana library and will be open to the public until 21 July (free entry).
Concept 2 – Function
The second round table is scheduled Tuesday 9 July at 6pm at the Teatro degli Industri. The guest of the talk will be Paolo Stella, creative director, writer, digital maker, content creator and founder of the @suonarestella format which has defined a new and unexplored way to communicate design. Moderated by the journalist, deputy director of Artribune, Santa Nastro, the meeting will be an opportunity to delve deeper into the role of design in society and to explore new communication avenues.
The function highlights how emotion can arise through design and its beauty. An intellectual or tactile emotion: what they have in common is the point of view of the human being, through which evolution takes place, with a direct consequence on the common good.
Concept 3 – Art
The third concept will focus on the parallelism between digital art and sacred art, developed through a round table in the Banca Tema headquarters, in Corso Carducci, Wednesday 10 July at 6pm. The round table, moderated by Giacomo Nicolella Maschietti, journalist specializing in digital art, will be attended by: Serena Tabacchi, director and co-founder of the MoCDA-Museum of contemporary digital art in London, Don Paolo Gentili, from the Diocese of Grosseto, Carlo Patris from Hypermaremma , Fabio Becherini, director of Banca Tema, and the designer Alessandro Corina.
Until July 19th the Cathedral of Grosseto it will be the access portal to the Nft work “Symbiotica” by Giuseppe Lo Schiavo, acquired for the community by Banca Tema.
The CGI video “Symbiotica” is a work of digital animation that seamlessly blends elements of pop culture, robotics, art history and nature, presenting a photorealist aesthetic. The title symbolizes the intricate relationships that form the basis of human existence and explores the projection of humanity through technology.
Divided into four distinct chapters, it investigates individual paths, cellular replication, the beauty of unity and the importance of nature. “Symbiotica” ultimately celebrates interconnection, portraying a harmonious symphony of collective action and underlining the profound connection between humanity and the environment.
Furthermore, outside the Cathedral until the end of the same month, for the “Ciel’in città” exhibition Giuseppe Gallo’s work, “Heroes”, proposed by the Hypermaremma association, will be staged. The installation will see the positioning of twelve large bronze figures depicting chairs with very high legs, with a surrealist impact, which at the same time evoke the sinuous roots and branches of trees waving in the wind.
“As a cooperative credit bank we have the task of supporting local economic development, but also of improving the moral and cultural conditions of our reference territories and of promoting cooperation – he claims Fabio Becherini, general manager of Banca Tema –. This collaboration therefore well represents our values and our corporate mission, as well as the perfect opportunity to share the digital work Symbiotica with citizens which, in agreement with the Diocese, will be exceptionally exhibited at the Cathedral. Our commitment to promoting culture is constant and when, as in this case, the right synergies are created between institutions and private partners for the benefit of the community, it is a great satisfaction for us”.
