On December 3, the United Nations Headquarters in the Swiss city hosted the presentation of Spirituality, the book-length dialogue between Michelangelo Pistoletto and Father Antonio Spadaro, edited by Francesco Monico and published by Marsilio Specchi. The meeting marked one of the most significant moments of the tenth anniversary of the donation of the work Rebirth – Third Paradise to the United Nations, a permanent installation composed of 193 stones, one for each member state.

The conference was opened by Ambassador Vincenzo Grassi, who emphasized the "unusual but necessary" nature of a dialogue capable of uniting different worlds (contemporary art and spiritual reflection) in a time marked by polarization and global crises. Grassi emphasized the value of mutual respect and freedom as the foundations of every authentic encounter: "Dialogue does not require us to renounce the truth, but to explore it together," he observed, recalling how the book invites us to overcome skepticism and ideological rigidity through a shared journey.

Luca de Michelis, editor of Marsilio, followed by his introduction to the volume as an example of a rare encounter between voices from distant contexts, made possible by a neutral and hospitable setting: a conversation born "around a table," free of formalism, capable of becoming a laboratory of thought. De Michelis highlighted the role of publishing as a builder of spaces for knowledge: "Spiritualità is not just a book, it is a framework that allows a living dialogue to become a shared heritage."

Francesco Monico, the volume's editor, explored the theoretical and anthropological dimension of the dialogue between Pistoletto and Spadaro, articulating it around the "threshold between Earth and World": an intermediate space in which human beings interpret, regenerate, and recompose their relationship with reality. Monico identified the trinamic formula, the generative principle underlying the Third Paradise, as a possible paradigm for our century, capable of connecting differences without flattening them: "Trinamics is a grammar of coevolution. Its space is the central circle, a generative place where conflicts are not denied, but transformed."

Hence, the question posed to Father Spadaro: "How can spirituality guide international institutions and communities toward new forms of responsibility and peace?"

Father Antonio Spadaro responded by recalling the mission of the United Nations: "a community that, today more than ever, needs creative imagination," which the Jesuit defines as "harmony," "to overcome the sterile alternation between equilibrium and confrontation." He also placed the Third Paradise at the heart of contemporary diplomacy: "The central circle is a fertile void, the space in which negotiation becomes generative." Quoting Emily Dickinson ("I dwell in possibility"), Spadaro outlined a vision of spirituality as a force capable of inspiring a new multilateralism, a precursor to preventive peace.

Instead, in his speech, Michelangelo Pistoletto traced the artistic gesture back to the very essence of human creation, contrasting it with the "animal state" dominated by predatory logic. "I don't want to live a single day as an animal. I want to live a hundred years as a creative human being," he stated, identifying collective responsibility as the foundation of a new society. For Pistoletto, art becomes the place where the possibility of coexistence is created: an educational, cultural, and political device that offers the world a perspective of harmony based on the principle "thou shalt not kill." He also evoked sport as an example of non-destructive competition, suggesting that humanity can develop laws capable of transforming conflict into creative energy.

In the subsequent exchange with Spadaro, Pistoletto addressed the relationship between art, artifice, and technology, recognizing artificial intelligence as a continuation of artistic intelligence: "The artificial is nothing but the continuation of art. Technology is a product of our creative mind." Spadaro reiterated the need to interpret AI not only from an ethical perspective, but also from a spiritual perspective: as a response to human desires for knowledge and connection, and as a space in which to exercise responsibility.

The discussion expanded further with audience input and a closing speech by Ambassador Grassi, who recalled how diplomacy, every day, is challenged by the delicate balance between intentionality and efficiency, between individual vision and the logic of states.

Concluding the proceedings, Francesco Monico defined the volume as "a trinamic dialogue between a secular artist and a theologian," thanking the participants, including His Excellency Monsignor Ettore Balestrero, Permanent Observer of the Holy See, who was among the promoters of the initiative.