The Pirelli Foundation, which preserves the company's entire historical and cultural heritage, will be present for the first time at "Tempo di Libri", the international publishing fair which will take place in Milan from 8 to 12 March in the spaces of Fieramilanocity and which sees Pirelli among its supporters. To retrace the important evolutions in the field of industry, design and corporate communication that have always distinguished the history of Pirelli, the Pirelli Foundation will be offering numerous cultural events at its stand.
On 9 and 10 March, in particular, the actors Marco S. Bellocchio and Fabrizio Martorelli will enliven the stand by interpreting some excerpts from the historic magazine "Pirelli", while on 8, 9, 10 and 12 March it will be the schools that will become protagonists of the event, participating in educational workshops which - thanks to the words of the great authors of the magazine "Pirelli" - will allow you to explore topics such as the world of work and technological research, the transformations of the city of Milan and the digital enhancement of historical documents. The story edited by the Pirelli Foundation aims to retrace the relationship between science and humanistic culture which is at the basis of the corporate culture and the history of the company.
Founded in 1872 and today one of the world's leading tire manufacturers, Pirelli has been committed since its inception to scientific and technological innovation with particular attention to environmental sustainability issues. The world of scientific research and factory life is told through photographs and texts, where the work of man joins that of machines, from mixers and calenders to the most sophisticated technologies based on the digital revolutions of modern factories and robots Next Mirs (Pirelli's automated tire production system).
The factory, therefore, not only as a place of production but also as a place open to culture and a source of inspiration for the creation of books, plays and musical compositions. The history of scientific development in Pirelli is therefore intertwined with that of the promotion of art and culture, with an unchanged interest – even in these areas – for innovation. An example of this is the collaboration with internationally renowned artists and photographers such as, among others, Bruno Munari, Riccardo Manzi, Raymond Savignac, Arno Hammacher, Peter Lindbergh, Stefan Glerum, Pokras Lampas but also graphic designers and designers such as Bob Noorda, Lora Lamm Armando Testa.
The integration between scientific culture and humanistic culture is demonstrated by the pages of “Pirelli. Information and technical magazine”, a bimonthly magazine published by the company between 1948-1972, where great protagonists of culture such as Eugenio Montale, Salvatore Quasimodo, Carlo Emilio Gadda, Italo Calvino, Leonardo Sinisgalli, Piero Chiara and again, Umberto Eco, Dino Buzzati and Gillo Dorfles have given rise to a fruitful cultural debate. All 131 issues of the magazine are available online on the site www.pirellifoundation.org.
A dialogue and comparison that is still relevant today thanks to the collaborations of Pirelli with authors such as Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Guillermo Martinez, William Least Heat-Moon, Javier Cercas, Hanif Kureishi, Javier Marías, who, together with the contribution of graphic designers and artists, enrich some of the volumes of corporate balance sheets in recent years. Pirelli has also been very active in promoting reading in the workplace since the first company library was established in 1928. More recently, the company has opened a library in the Milan Bicocca headquarters and one inside the Bollate plant, in addition to that of the Settimo Torinese Industrial Park.
The Pirelli Foundation holds a historical archive – proclaimed of historical interest by the Archival Superintendence – of over 3,5 km of documentation on the history of Pirelli from its foundation in 1872 to today. A central role is played by the section dedicated to advertising and communication which bears witness to Pirelli's fruitful collaboration with intellectuals, artists, photographers and the company's aptitude for anticipating the evolution of communication languages and tools: from design to photography, from the first computer graphics experiments to the recent digital challenges.
Two recent publications edited by the Pirelli Foundation retrace over a century of evolution of advertising strategies and languages, also in the transition from analogue to digital technology, and bear witness to Pirelli's avant-garde role in the field of visual communication.
