Mario Cristiani and Antonella Polimeni discuss art and university in Contemporaneamente podcast

In the Contemporaneamente podcast, curated by Mariantonietta Firmani, gallerist Mario Cristiani and Sapienza University of Rome rector Antonella Polimeni explore the intersection of art and academia. Polimeni asserts that studying extends life expectancy, positioning the university as a primary social elevator through inclusion and right to study, with a mission to disseminate research results and technological transfer to meet future societal needs. She references Socrates' distinction between happiness as natural wealth and luxury as artificial poverty. Cristiani recounts the founding of Arte Continua, conceived to create an artistic and agro-environmental district in Siena, where tourism becomes a journey of knowledge. He emphasizes that friendship and mutual trust compensated for initial economic shortcomings, enabling difficult projects during challenging times, guided by artists' intellectual courage. He defines knowledge as the luxury of self-improvement and discovering future potential, and calls for social solidarity in housing peripheries and factories. He envisions cities as islands within a world park and industry as ecocompatible, concluding that art is the soul without which one cannot live.