Publication accompanying the exhibition "Cittadellarte. Sharing Transformation"

There has been a noticeable change underway as of late. More and more, art is demanding a social consciousness and sees itself as beyond representation. Concepts such as ‘art activism’ or ‘art with social impact’ speak of a redefinition of the field of art, which puts production and personal artistic agency in the service of an active transformation.

Founded by Michelangelo Pistoletto, Cittadellarte, located in Biella (IT) is an open network that, as an artistic collective, seeks to stimulate and encourage a responsible change in society. It works as a concrete, experimental and sustainable working community within the region and is a worldwide initiator of various multi-disciplinary projects.

The exhibition in Kunsthaus Graz is dedicated to the idea of an intervening art practice and follows using various projects by artists and collectives, and the desire for a subversive, open and sustainable cultural world model.

In this sense, the catalogue Book of Transformation is also conceived as a sustainable model and follows a process-oriented concept: using the print-on-demand system, experiences of the exhibition and the knowledge gathered in group discussions is made easily accessible to the general community and is readily available for download online. The social significance of collective acts is illuminated in various ways, using the topics ‘political agency in art’, ‘belonging’, ‘rebirth’ and ‘influence of the printed word’ as a basis.