The Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation in Turin presented the volume "The Sign of Art in Business. Italian Corporate Collections for Modern and Contemporary Art'.published by Marsilio Arte, at the initiative of Confindustria, under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture.

The publication includes images and stories of 57 collections of modern art e contemporary guarded by the enterprisesA story that testifies to the passion for art of female entrepreneurs and their desire to support the artistic production, both Italian and international, of already well-known and established artists as well as emerging ones.

The project was initiated by Katia Da Ros, Vice President for Environment, Sustainability and Culture, and of Antonio Alunni, President of the Group Technical Culture of Confindustriawith the aim of promoting a phenomenon little known to the general public and highlighting a different model of entrepreneurship inspired by the Corporate Cultural Responsibility which sees companies as the engine of not only economic, but also civil, social and cultural growth of society and the territories in which they have their production sites.

From research conducted by Nomisma in 2021 (commissioned by Apollo Group with the support of Intesa Sanpaolo) shows that the art market has significant economic potential: in 2019, it generated a turnover of 1.46 billionwith a total impact of EUR 3.78 billion (multiplier effect of 2.60) and a total number of workers involved of 36,000.

For Vice President Da Ros, 'in order to realise this potential, it is necessary to promote the business investment in art and culturethrough adequate and effective regulatory policies and instruments. Instead, we register the absence of a satisfactory framework, starting from the very definition of corporate art collections. The aim of the project, therefore, is also to draw the attention of institutional stakeholders to these aspects. More generally, the volume is a tangible testimony of the close connection between art and business, and of how much culture can represent a lever for growth, since it contributes to defining, or redefining, the very identity of a company, shaping organisational and business models and making them evolve, also in terms of sustainability'.

"When the idea for this book was born, we knew that we would be able to count on stories of the closeness of companies to the art world, but the result went beyond expectations. Companies participated in the project with enthusiasm, because at last a spotlight has been shone on the relationship between business and art, made up of articulated and consolidated relationships over time'. Thus the President of the Technical Group for Culture of Confindustria, Antonio Alunni. "The many corporate collections enclosed in the volume recount values rooted in Italian industry, including that of restitution, from companies to art and, through it, to territorial communities and vice versa, in a game of reciprocal contamination. Because art and artists give companies and entrepreneurs an original and wide-ranging look at the world and the most topical issues and, through emotions, help generate innovative ideas'.

The initiative sees the involvement of established personalities in the world of contemporary art, also at an international level, such as Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo and Ilaria Bonacossa, who, as curator of the project, has been joined by an Advisory Board composed of experts sector professionals such as Costantino D'Orazio, Marianna Agliottone, Marilena Pirrelli, and an assistant curator, Cristina Masturzo.

The book was realised with the support of Intesa Sanpaolo, 4.Manager's Main Partnership for Enterprise Culture, in collaboration with IWS, Knowledge Partner Deloitte Private and with contributions from Fondazione Bracco and Christie's Italy.