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From a Piazza in Turin to an Artist Workshop in Madrid: Social Art in Action
‘Piazzas for Peace’ and ‘LabArt 2025’ are two initiatives in Italy and Spain that have demonstrated the profound impact art can have on a public space, community work, and training for young artists committed to social transformation.
There is no doubt that art is at its most accomplished – it finds its deepest meaning, reaches its highest goal – when tied to social engagement and serving the community, and when it fosters peace, justice, and the growth of humanity.
As an integral part of our February focus on art and social engagement, we look at two artistic projects that served their communities, both of which were supported by one of the eight United World Project Communities: Art and Social Commitment.
The community uses art in all its forms to confront social issues and promote human rights and harmony between people, populations, and cultures, putting the common good before individual artists’ narcissistic self-assertion.
Both projects featured in the ‘Together to Care’ document published last November by Youth for a United World (Y4UW). The first initiative, Piazze di Pace, took place in Italy, and the second, LabArt 2025, was in Spain.
The Piazze di Pace Project in Turin, Italy
Piazze di Pace (literally, ‘Piazzas for Peace’) was a project carried out in Turin, a city in the north of Italy where you can also find the extraordinary Arsenal of Peace.
What was the Piazze di Pace project? Several students took the beautiful, inspiring initiative to transform a simple street into a ‘piazza’ for gathering, reflection, and constructive rest. The students actively collaborated with a local school, a nearby church, the town council, and the entire municipality.
The young people who took part in the Piazze di Pace project found a restricted traffic area and started organising cultural and recreational initiatives with the locals.
Initially Piazze di Pace was intended to be temporary, but after its success – thanks to all the hard work of these young people – it grew, prompting a celebration in the new ‘piazza’, once again organised by young people working with the town council.
There is no question that Piazze di Pace presents an ideal opportunity to decide and grow together; to spread the values of peace and unity; to shape our future together through healthy, productive, and necessary relationships between locals and young people; and, united by the same desires and goals, to create a new permanent piazza.
The LabArt Project in Spain
The equally interesting conference LabArt 2025: Living, Thinking, Making took place in Spain – or, more precisely, at the Mariápolis Luminosa Centre in Las Matas, Madrid – and ran from 31 August to 4 September 2025.
The international congress of young artists between 18 and 35 years old brought together 30 artists from ten countries across the world: Brazil, Cuba, Spain, Romania, Italy, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Armenia, England, and Panama. Over five intense days these artists, each with their own cultural perspective and unique approach, engaged in a fruitful exchange.
Collaborating closely throughout their time together, they took advantage of one aspect in particular: the exchange between established professionals and young emerging talent. The intergenerational dialogue between artists fostered organic discussion and role sharing, reinvigorating and inspiring participants by allowing them to freely experiment with their artistic approach, share their poetic vision, and create new opportunities and possibilities together.
Various themes underpinned LabArt 2025, including training, spirituality, communion, and the social aspect of art – something that, as we discussed, is invaluable. Overcoming the purely technical concerns and working with the themes previously mentioned in mind, the participants explored existential questions that gave depth to the creative work of those five days.
You can read about LabArt 2025’s objectives on their website: 1. To offer those who are at the beginning of their professional career or who are currently considering their artistic vocation, the experience of those who have already travelled part of the way. 2. To present approaches based on relationality and in-depth dialogue. 3. To provide help in obtaining resources and tools to live inspiration in depth, and to facilitate the materialisation of the creative process.
LabArt 2025 was organised by Clarté, an international network of artists working to improve appreciation for cultural products, and exchange experiences and ideas with partners who have chosen to make art an essential part of their life.
Both of these projects are rays of sunshine breaking through the often stormy clouds of today, lending courage and inspiration to every generation. Seeing art and young people come together, as they did during Piazze di Pace and LabArt 2025, fills our hearts with hope.
Translated into English by Becca Webley