We Are Culture
With Pirelli We Learn to... ADD VALUE
A whole series of activities contribute to raising the level of knowledge and conservation of our cultural heritage, making it more easily available to the public, in order to convey the values that this heritage brings with it. The Pirelli Foundation adopts many approaches to promoting and improving its rich corporate heritage, which consists of more than 4 km of documents, telling a story that has never ceased to represent it corporate culture since 1872.
ACTIVITY OVERVIEW
The students will be taken on a guided tour of the Pirelli Historical Archive, where they will find a vast array of diverse types of documents. These include the company’s articles of association, technical specifications that chart the evolution of technologies and products, photographs of the first workers at the factory, sketches for iconic advertising campaigns, illustrated catalogues, price lists, company magazines, financial reports, printed advertisements, and lots more. Reading some of these materials and a visit to the exhibition Pirelli: When History Builds the Future, with video installations and digital displays, will introduce the students to the past and present of the great multinational corporation that is Pirelli. The students will also watch the short film We are, a Pirelli Foundation project inspired by Bertolt Brecht’s The Life of Galileo. This film employs a visual narrative to highlight the unique combination of scientific and artistic creativity that is such a feature of the company’s corporate culture. We Are serves as a starting point for discussing the countless initiatives and projects undertaken by the Pirelli Foundation, which promote and show the general public many aspects of the world of Pirelli, such as the digitisation of the materials, research, exhibitions, podcasts, and publications, just to name a few. The group will then be accompanied around the Bicocca area in Milan, where Pirelli has operated since the early twentieth century and where its headquarters is now based.
OBJECTIVES
The primary aim of this activity is to enable the students to observe and examine original materials, and to give them an idea of the wealth and variety of the world of archives. They will also investigate various means for promoting and enhancing cultural heritage, with the aim of breathing life into historical memory and fostering a more informed and conscientious civic and moral awareness. Thanks also to the visit to the Bicocca district, the participants will also learn about the main events in the history of the company.
This course will be in the form of one in-person event.