The philanthropist Marino Golinelli turns 97 and, for the occasion, dictates his will and gives his Foundation the ideas and resources necessary to face the "Unpredictable", a future without borders. The symbolic cutting of the cake is an exhibition of the same name, open to the public from Friday, in Bologna, in a new wing of the Opificio in via Nanni Costa. “Being ready for the future without knowing what it will be like” is the subtitle of the event, conceived by Golinelli and entrusted to Giovanni Carrada and Crisitiana Perrella. The great old man, younger than many young people, presenting the initiative makes the president Andrea Zanotti read a moral and material testament. First of all, he recommends that everyone, but especially young people, have a dream and live for it, trying to give meaning to the whys of life. Then he announces the news.
“I have already donated 85 million euros of my personal resources to the Golinelli Foundation – says the philanthropist – in addition I have decided to bequeath another important and significant part of my current personal assets, allocating it to future projects, for which there is no expiration date, well beyond 2065". Always grateful to good fortune, to friends and family, Golinelli underlines: "with this further and definitive legacy, the Foundation will have to continue undying to work to collaborate effectively and concretely with public and private institutions, both Italian and international, which will fully share its vision, operating in the fields of education, training, science, research and business. A legacy for the dream of young people, to feed an optimistic, confident and proactive gaze towards a better world, towards an unpredictable but possible future, embracing it responsibly and with an ethical, democratic and inclusive vision towards all". How much these new resources amount to is not said, but everything is already a lot, it's already beyond. Chapeau!
The future hunters of the Golinelli Foundation group will have at their disposal a city of knowledge, the arts and science, increasingly rich and which is already expanding in recent weeks. The new works will lead it to extend over an area of 14 square metres, 10 of which are covered. Golinelli stands as the progenitor of a handful of conquistadors for a better world. After “Opus 2065”, an over ten-year program guaranteed by the Guardians of the Trust, whose name is already a bit of the knights of the round table, the generous entrepreneur takes his prowess even further. This time the adventure is space, but by now, perhaps, there is nothing more topical than science fiction.
To remain concrete, together with the exhibition, Friday also opens the new 700-metre hosting space, called the “Center for arts and sciences”, signed by the architect Mario Cucinella. “In fact – explains Marino himself – it is an Academy where the arts can meet, from design to architecture, music, movies, culture and science. A place of contamination, where young people can cultivate their dreams". The new inventive and liquidity injection brings a structural revolution to the Foundation. The old divisions are brought together under new chapters, some of which are unpublished. A grandiose project, which brings together education, training, culture, art, research and business, a unique place in Europe, which will bring visits from 120 a year to 200 by 2019.
A gift that this 97-year-old dreamer made to Bologna, to Italy and also to himself. So let's start on Friday from "Unpredictable", the last of seven exhibitions which, since 2010, have investigated the strong contemporary themes in an innovative way.
“Until the 700th and 800th centuries – explains Carrada – inventions and innovations were viewed with diffidence, because they undermined the established order. Starting from the eighteenth century, however, the British changed their attitude and society opened up to innovation”. Today this progress is geometric and almost everything that is thought of is also accomplished in the blink of an eye. Staying on the market, intuiting the future, means keeping up with time which suddenly runs faster. Or at least try to understand where this fleeting time will go, to tame it and dialogue with it. Artists are innovators by definition, but also full of critical spirit, ideas, and beauty. Scientists are capable of translating fantasies into possibilities. Entrepreneurs have the desire and the audacity to transform ideas into objects. Future hunters chase time, hoping, at least, to make friends with it. “Unpredictability – explain the curators of the exhibition – is a positive element, because it means that our societies are open and not slaves of a few dominant groups, capable of subjugating the surrounding world”. The exhibition is divided into six sections, where popular films, installations and works intertwine. These are the titles: “The future arrives anyway”; “The future creates more than it destroys”; “The future cannot be predicted (fortunately)”; “The prejudice against new things”; “Coming to terms with nature”; “Those who do not innovate risk losing their past as well”.
Today the preview, which closes tonight at 19pm with the concert by maestro Ezio Bosso, who directs the STRADIVARIfestival CHAMBER ORCHESTRA and Visual Design Art performance by the street artist Rusty. At 20 the ribbon cutting. Then Marino Golinelli will be able to blow out his 97 candles if he wishes.
