curating.org
Master Project
Alina Baldini
Corporate Art Collections
How curating and mediation can makeart inspirational for employees
Can Art education in Corporate Art Collections inspire more engagement around the Company’s mission, bring employees closer to the Art world in general and, ultimately, contribute to growth of our cultural heritage?
The scope of this paper is to explore the importance of art education with reference to Corporate Art Collections. My background is in Human Resources which means, in my case, people and organization development, how we relate to each other, how our thoughts and behaviours shape the context we live in and how we are shaped by it. I am more and more convinced that in my work what matters the most is to
convey a purposeful message which include tools and education but that needs first of all to be curated to make it understandable and useful and this activity of curating a narrative is way more engaging when is co-created with the people,or the public in case of art, that are the recipient of the experience.
My main purpose with this paper is to connect this lifelong experience with my lifelong passion for art.
My research question is whether a purposeful and curated art education can, on one hand, inspire employees according to Company’s values and mission and, on the other side, increase their interest toward the art world in general. In 1969 Peter Drucker made famous the definition of knowledge economy to indicate an economic system in which the production of goods and services is based principally on knowledge-intensive activities that contribute to a rapid pace of advancement in technical and scientific innovation as well as accelerated obsolescence.
In the new century, 40years after Drucker’s definition is becoming evident that knowledge is not anymore the only differentiator. It remains primarily important, if we think for example about the underdeveloped Countries where people still struggle to learn to read and write, but it is now accompanied, with more
evidence, by the “being or behavioral” economy.
In a global world where we can connect in a blink with everyone and relations are becoming more frequent even though also more superficial, the way in which we behave, the awareness about the impact that are actions have on others and on our environment, are becoming a key factor to determine the individual sustainable success and even the success of a Company as whole. This also brings in a new definition of personal responsibility for what each person says and does.
Exploring Art is exploring ourselves. The journey of growing our self awareness is replicated in the journey of exploring art with enhanced depth at every step. Those Companies that have the privilege and luck of owning an artistic heritage, large or small it does not matter really, they have also an immense resource and opportunity to inspire people and contribute to their personal growth which is necessary, nowadays, to stimulate a professional healthy growth.
Alina Baldini is an Italian psychologist and art researcher, she lives and works in Basel (CH) since 2017. Since a couple of decades she has been working in corporations addressing topics like company’s culture, coaching and personal transformation. Following her passion for Contemporary Art and her curiosity to discover the curating aspects in what she experiences, she decided to begin in 2019 the OnCurating MAS
program at the ZHdK and she graduated in 2021. Her field of inquiry is around Corporate Art collections and their impact on employees in terms of engagement with the Company’s purpose, on one side and as a stimulus to reflect on self discovery and awareness triggered by the creative process. Connected to this topic Alina is also studying the area of art mediation with specialnreference to Museums’ management and she is intrigued by the principles of a participatory Museum.