On May 15, 2026, the 28th edition of Arte al Centro will open at Fondazione Pistoletto Cittadellarte in Biella, the annual exhibition dedicated to art and responsible social transformation, recognized as an international point of reference.

This year’s theme will be hospitality, understood as a cultural and civic practice capable of generating encounters, listening, and new forms of coexistence. In this context, tourism is seen as a tool capable of activating relationships between people and different cultures, generating economy, collaboration, and sharing.

At the heart of this edition will be the opening of Hotel Cittadellarte, a new hospitality facility that will host an exhibition in its rooms featuring works by the artist Giuseppe Stampone, curated by Ilaria Bernardi.

The afternoon program includes the opening of new exhibitions and spaces, along with talks, events, screenings and workshops that intertwine art, fashion, and well-being within the setting of the Cittadellarte industrial archaeology complex. Among these is the Terme Culturali, a new immersive pathway that fosters creativity, listening, and collaboration through artistic and workshop-based experiences. 

THE PROGRAM

From 10.30 am to 11.00 pm, all the exhibitions and the permanent collection of Michelangelo Pistoletto will be open to the public with free guided tours, departing every hour (click here to book).

• From 2.00 pm the public will be able to take part in the Terme Culturali itineraries (painting, ceramics, graphology and interiorist photography); the workshops will last 40 minutes and will start at 2.00pm, 3.00pm and 4.00pm.

• At 4.30 pm, in the Agorà Statodellarte space, located in the Palazzo del Buongoverno, the Working Conference "Nuovi modelli museali: accoglienza, cura ed esperienze" ("New museum models: hospitality, care and experiences") will be held which will highlight how cultural enjoyment can have a positive impact on psycho-physical well-being. Register here to attend the meeting.

• The opening is scheduled for 6.30pm in the Concept space: the official opening of the XXVIII edition of Arte al Centro with the story of the exhibition program (open until 31 December 2026) and the announcement of the winner of the Minimum Prize, the recognition that celebrates responsible creativity by rewarding those who manage to generate the maximum positive, social or environmental impact, with the minimum use of resources.

• From 8.30pm in the main courtyard there will be food and beverage points with musical accompaniment, talks and the screening of the film AMAZONIA: relatos de abundancia - winner of the Italian Council XVI edition grant - by Sergio Racanati (the project leader is Centro Itard Lombardia in partnership with Polo Arti Cultura e Turismo di Regione Puglia and Emily Harvey Foudation). During the day, the film Catartis - Preserving the Future by Ferdinando Vicentini Orgnani will also be screened. 

The exhibitions will close at 11pm.

From the morning of Friday 15 May the public will be able to immerse themselves in a packed calendar of exhibitions, talks and free activities, designed to liven up the spaces until the evening and offer a continuous and engaging experience: let's discover them all.

Le Terme Culturali (Quartiere n.o.v.a. civitas and quartiere centro)

For 2026, Cittadellarte launches the Terme Culturali (Cultural Baths), a project that transforms historic spaces into places of internal regeneration, through immersive paths dedicated to groups and companies. The initiative aims to promote the well-being of the mind and creativity through active artistic participation, going beyond the concept of mere cultural consumption. 

The theme of the link between biology, care and new museum models will be explored in depth in one of the afternoon appointments of the day at the Palazzo del Buongoverno, with the participation of experts including: Pier Luigi Sacco, pioneer in the study of cultural impact at a neurophysiological level, the CEO of the Moleskine Foundation Adama Sanneh and a representative of TTG Travel Experience, the leading Italian event for the promotion of global tourism, with the moderation of Emanuele Montibeller, founder of Arte Sella and artistic director by Oca Oasy Contemporary Art and Architecture.

At Arte al Centro, in the afternoon, the public will have the opportunity to take part in open workshops, designed to offer a direct and participatory experience of the contents of the project. Those who participate in at least two workshops at the Cultural Baths will receive as a prize - while supplies last - the exclusive and special Chiave del viaggiatore consapevole (Key for the conscious traveler) created in collaboration with Boglietti Gioielliere.

Hotel Cittadellarte

On the occasion of the 2026 edition of Arte al Centro, the opening of the Hotel Cittadellarte is also planned, a new accommodation facility that becomes an exhibition space and artistic device thanks to a curatorial program with annual renewal. 

The 31 rooms will host L'ospite inatteso (The Unexpected Guest), a widespread exhibition with works by Giuseppe Stampone, curated by Ilaria Bernardi, while the common spaces will celebrate the 27 years of activity of the Pistoletto Foundation through an exhibition of archive photographs.

Dans Les Plis - Ogni punto è il centro dell’universo (Quartiere n.o.v.a. civitas)

At the Museo del Presente, the exhibition Dans les plis - Ogni punto è il centro dell’universo (Dans les plis - Every point is the center of the universe), curated by Ilaria Bernardi, will inaugurate. The project starts from the traditional women's dress of Scanno - candidate to become a UNESCO heritage site - and the pleating technique ("trijatura") to outline a historical, educational and creative path, which relates the Scanno dress both with the history of pleating, from antiquity to today, and with the research and design activities of the three-year course in Sustainable Fashion of the Accademia Unidee, directed by Maria Canella, and with the collaboration of Fashion B.E.S.T. Joining this journey, as its integral part, is the installation of Terzo Paradiso by Michelangelo Pistoletto reinterpreted, through plissé, by the artist Laurent Barnavon. The exhibition is the first activity of a three-year journey on the theme of the fold, as a transversal element between cultures and disciplines (from fashion to contemporary art), transforming it into a metaphor for change and new contemporary models of thought.

CirculART 4.0 (Quartiere n.o.v.a. civitas)

The works of the CirculART 4.0 project will be exhibited within the spaces of the Foundation, a project conceived and developed by Fashion B.E.S.T., the sustainable fashion laboratory founded in 2009 by Michelangelo Pistoletto and Franca Sozzani. The project aims to redefine the dialogue between the creativity of contemporary art, fashion and the know-how of the excellent textile industry, transforming the textile material into a leading component of conscious design. Developed in synergy with UNIDEE residency programs, the project represents a solid bridge between art and sustainability, elevating fashion as a vehicle for cultural change.

Main Partner: Material Innovation Lab, Gruppo Kering
Exclusive partner for traceability and technological innovation: Temera
Scientific partner: Acqua Foundation
Partner Companies: Albini Group, Brunello, Erica Industria Tessile, Filatura Astro, Lanecardate, Lenzing Group, Maglificio Maggia, Madiva, Maeba International SB, Officina39, Piacenza Group, Pulvera, Successori Reda S.B.p.A., Regenesi, Tessuti di Sondrio, Zegna Baruffa Lane Borgosesia

Ecosystems as Living Communities Vol. II (Quartiere n.o.v.a. civitas)

The new works produced as part of the second edition of Ecosystems as Living Communities, curated by Angela Serino, the connective residences project promoted by the Pistoletto Cittadellarte Foundation through UNIDEE Residency Programs in collaboration with UniCredit Group, will be presented. Moving from a vision of ecosystems as living and relational presences, the project accompanied the research of Emma Zerial and Eliza Collin, rooted in Alpine landscapes. The works, the result of open and interdisciplinary processes, return stratified readings of contemporary ecosystems.

Accademia Unidee (Quartiere n.o.v.a. civitas and Quartiere Centro)

On the occasion of Arte al Centro 2026, Accademia Unidee opens the doors of its spaces to the public, from 5pm to 11pm. It will be possible to visit classrooms, laboratories and ateliers, entering the heart of academic life. An opportunity to discover the Academy's courses and teaching method up close.

Universario e installazioni (Quartiere Centro)

On the occasion of Arte al Centro 2026, Cittadellarte presents a totally redesigned space in which Michelangelo Pistoletto's "Formula of Creation" continues to be a source of inspiration and fulcrum of artistic research: the Universario. Within this new environment, the master's vision coexists and dialogues harmoniously with an unprecedented exhibition project curated by GuardiniCiuffreda Studio, designed precisely to enhance and narrate the different projects of the "Uffizi" of Cittadellarte, making them coexist in a single large laboratory of investigation and knowledge.

Also in the Quartiere Centro, Selfie Robot / Selfie Interview will be open and available, an interactive installation in which visitors can experience an introspective dialogue with a special robot. Michelangelo Pistoletto's installation Mirror of Eternity will also be present and usable, created in collaboration with DMINTI and Galleria Continua: a portal between reality and virtuality, where the sign of the Third Paradise expands in time and space, embracing a cosmic vision of the present and the future..

Palazzo del Buongoverno

At the Palazzo del Buongoverno, like an open and moving geography, like an ecosystem of ideas and possibilities, the Agorà Statodellarte space, which hosts Biella Città Arcipelago, continues its transformation into an exhibition space with a rearrangement curated by GuardiniCiuffreda Studio.
The UR-RA and Unity of Sport for a Preventive Peace exhibitions by Michelangelo Pistoletto will also be open to visitors at the Palazzo del Buongoverno. In the room hosting the UR-RA exhibition, the film dedicated to Michelangelo Pistoletto's proclamation of Pope Francis as the Primo Santo dell’Arte (First Saint of Art) will also be screened.

Erasmus+ (Quartiere Centro)

The quartiere Centro district will also host the exhibition of the Erasmus+ project, created by Ambienti di Apprendimento with the schools of the Directorate of Secondary Education of West Thessaloniki (Greece), the Szent László Gimnázium of Budapest, the Istituto Gae Aulenti and the Liceo Sella of Biella.

Sede permanente del Terzo Paradiso

The permanent headquarters of Terzo Paradiso will be open and can be visited until 8pm. In the Terzo Paradiso district, in via Cernaia in Biella, Labirinto - Pace Preventiva (Labyrinth - Preventive Peace) by Michelangelo Pistoletto will be present and can be visited until 8pm.