Prato, great artists donate their works to reforest the city

An original project in Prato, where an attempt is made to... turn contemporary art into oxygen. This is the idea behind Arte per la Riforestazione, a new project of Associazione Arte Continua, which launches its first fundraising initiative from May 16 to June 13, 2022, with the involvement of more than fifteen leading international artists: Per Barclay, Massimo Bartolini, Loris Cecchini, Leandro Erlich, Alberto Garutti, Antony Gormley, Carsten Höller, LABINAC (Maria Thereza Alves and Jimmie Durham), Cildo Meireles, Giovanni Ozzola, Mimmo Paladino, Tobias Rehberger, Kiki Smith, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Nari Ward, and Sislej Xhafa.

The works they donated are featured in an online auction curated by Pandolfini intended to fund an urban reforestation project with the support of the City of Prato as part of Prato Forest City, a project by Stefano Mancuso and PNAT. The aim is to concretely support a reforestation intervention in the city of Prato, in the working-class neighborhoods of the Tobbiana-Allende area. The works up for auction can already be seen on Pandolfini’s website.

The initiative stems from the meeting of Associazione Arte Continua with Stefano Mancuso, a world-renowned scientist, Professor at the University of Florence and co-founder of PNAT, and from the need to enhance the connection of ’art as vital “nourishment” for all of us with that of oxygen-generating plants, indispensable for the very existence of human life and our planet. The project was presented last September, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the first edition of Arte All’Arte: following in the footsteps of the project Arte x Vino = Acqua, Associazione Arte Continua continues its activity of promoting public art initiatives capable of connecting artists from the international art community with territories, triggering local development processes and creating social and cultural connections.

Thanks to the reputation and relationships with the international art system that Associazione Arte Continua has established in more than 30 years of activity, there are 36 works ofart for reforestation that will be earmarked for the fundraising campaign, generously donated by Per Barclay, Massimo Bartolini, Loris Cecchini, Leandro Erlich, Alberto Garutti, Antony Gormley, Carsten Höller, LABINAC (Maria Thereza Alves and Jimmie Durham), Cildo Meireles, Giovanni Ozzola, Mimmo Paladino, Tobias Rehberger, Kiki Smith, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Nari Ward, and Sislej Xhafa. The first phase of the fundraiser is an online auction curated by Pandolfini Auction House, to be held May 16-29, 2022, for the Art for Reforestation project. The funds raised will be able to enable the creation of a wooded area capable of absorbing 3,000 kilograms of CO2 per year and abate fine particulate matter from the area’s heavy traffic, while offering neighborhood residents a green space to relax in contact with nature. The initiative plans to achieve these results through the planting of about 300 trees of different species.

The initiative and the project will be presented on Friday, May 20 from 6:30 p.m. in Milan at the ADI DESIGN MUSEUM, Piazza Compasso d’Oro 1, Speakers: Andrea Cancellato, Director of the Design Museum; Mario Cristiani (President of Associazione Arte Continua); Stefano Mancuso (Botanist, Academician and co-founder of PNAT); and Valerio Barberis (Urban Planning Councillor of the City of Prato).

Image: detail of Wall Piece Flora by Maria Thereza Alves, one of the works for sale.

Prato, great artists donate their works to reforest the city

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