Museimpresa Residential Seminar – Turin, 2024

BUSINESS CULTURE GOES POP: THE ANNUAL MUSEIMPRESA SEMINAR IN TURIN FROM 9TH TO 11TH OCTOBER

This year’s theme is ‘Business culture goes pop’.

Participants include Antonio Calabrò, Christian Greco, Paolo Verri, Giovanni Pietro Vitali, Antonella Costantino, and Lorena Tadorni.

Business culture, like pop culture, has the power to shape the collective imagination – not only for employees but also for the communities in which the company operates. It transcends national borders, contributing to the cultural identity of an entire country. Pop culture attracts and inspires through the icons of music, cinema, or fashion. Business culture, by contrast, narrates stories of innovation, tradition, and creativity, grounded in production capacity and technological progress. Both are forces capable of engaging new generations, connecting the past, present, and future.

The annual Museimpresa seminar will explore how business culture can also be pop culture and how corporate museums and archives can act as cultural go-betweens for younger generations. From Wednesday 9th October, to Friday 11th October, the event will convene 147 corporate museums and archives from across Italy in Turin. For the first time, the seminar will adopt a multi-venue format, hosted at various locations in Turin, including Casa Martini, the Lavazza Museum, Heritage Lab Italgas, Museo Archivio Reale Mutua, Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, Officina della Scrittura, and the Gallerie d’Italia.

Antonio Calabrò, President of Museimpresa and Director of the Pirelli Foundation, commented on this year’s theme:

‘Business Culture Goes Pop’ is the title of this Museimpresa annual seminar. Founded over twenty years ago by Assolombarda and Confindustria, Museimpresa now unites nearly 150 members and institutional supporters, including large, medium, and small enterprises, as well as prestigious cultural institutions. But why such a striking and somewhat provocative title? To communicate that business culture is both popular and high quality, intended for a broad audience, yet mindful of innovation and change. Naturally open to experimenting with new forms and languages, it maintains a strong commitment to broad accessibility, with a particular focus on engaging younger generations. The timeless lesson of Italo Calvino remains impressed upon us: ‘Focus only on the difficult things, executed to perfection, the things that require effort; beware of taking the easy way out, of doing things just for the sake of doing them. Aim for precision, both in language and in what you do’. The teachings of this literary giant are as relevant today as they have ever been. Our Pop business culture reflects precisely this ethos’.

The event highlights corporate museums and archives as spaces capable of popularizing Italy’s manufacturing and industrial history. These institutions are no longer mere custodians of the past but have become active cultural players, capable of engaging younger generations.

The programme goes further, featuring contributions from distinguished speakers and guests, including Christian Greco (Director of the Egyptian Museum in Turin), Paolo Verri (Director of the Mondadori Foundation and consultant for the Turin Capital of Business Culture bid), Giovanni Pietro Vitali (University of Versailles), Antonella Costantino (Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico of Milano), and Lorena Tadorni (curator). Discussions will cover the use of artificial intelligence and data analysis for archive digitisation, as well as social inclusion and ESG principles in museums.

Particular focus will be given to the Industrial Tourism Observatory, developed by Museimpresa in collaboration with Nomisma. This initiative aims not only to create a profile of corporate archives and museums, but also to examine the size and potential of Italy’s industrial tourism sector and assess its socio-economic impact.