Foundation Day 2023
Every day, in meeting others we set our gaze on their face. If we do not set our gaze on their face, it means that we want not to see them, not to recognize them; we reduce them to being shadows, silhouettes, beside which we pass in order to go beyond...
Emmanuel Lévinas
The John Paul II Foundation each year organizes a space for reflection dedicated to discussing various issues, involving collaborators, donors, employees and the entire community. This year the day will take place in Arezzo and will be entitled. "Project Man", a reflection on the faces of humanity, the use of language and our interpretation of the other. For the first time it will be possible to follow the day in its entirety through live streaming from the page Facebook of the Foundation.
The main purpose of the days is to involve young people and make them protagonists of the discussion, in fact, on November 29, they will have the opportunity to converse with Marco Bentivogli, trade unionist, to talk about the challenges of the open society.
The next day, Nov. 30, the event is enriched with the exhibition of 22 photographic portraits signed by Alessandro Bartolini, exhibited in the conference room of the ITIS Galilei of Arezzo where students will select the 9 portraits that will make up the exhibition "Faces of the Mediterranean" which can be visited from Jan. 01 to Jan. 6 in the Church of Santa Maria della Pieve.
The meeting with students continues with the performance of a theatrical monologue staged by Simona Gonnelli, actress and director of the Excelsior theater in Reggello and with a lecture on language and prejudice by Professor Silvia Calamai, sociolinguist of the University of Siena.
Students will then be featured in a debate on three topical issues such as acceptance, conflict and artificial intelligence.
From 3 p.m. onward will be held the scientific panel with a panel entitled. "The Tower of Babel: let's build a common meaning.". Speakers on the topic will include. Imam Izzeddin Elzir, Rabbi Joseph Levi, Marco Allegrini, Tuscany external relations coordinator of the Italian Buddhist Institute Soka Gakkai, Osama Rashid Segister General of the Florentine School for Higher Education and Education for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue, Monsignor Giuliani and Folco Terzani. Giuseppe Mascambruno moderates.
On Friday, December 1 at 11:30 a.m. the exhibition "Faces of the Mediterranean" by Alessandro Bartolini, in the Church of Santa Maria della Pieve in Arezzo.
Thanks to a collaboration with Confesercenti Arezzo, the exhibition will continue in stores on Via Cavour, Piazza della Badia and Via Isidoro del Lungo.
The exhibition will be open to the public daily from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. until Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024.