The promotion and sharing of art and culture are honed tools for countering intolerance and barbarism. With this heartfelt conviction Imago Mundi – the cultural, democratic and global non-profit project promoted by Luciano Benetton – presents at the Pratt Institute of New York, one of the most prestigious universities in the world for the Arts, Architecture and Design, the exhibition The Art of Humanity, which includes around 3,000 works by artists from 14 countries, representing every continent.

From May 23 to 28, 2016, the Pratt’s Rubelle and Norman Schafler Gallery will host the contemporary art collections in the 10x12 cm format from Australia/ Aboriginal Art (Oceania); Afghanistan, China, Japan, Iran, Israel, Syria, Tibet (Asia); Italy (Europe); Chile, USA (Americas), Egypt, South Africa, Tunisia (Africa). This is a significant extract of the global collection – which has now passed the 100 nation milestone – that conveys the world as we would all like it to be: colorful, in peace and without walls.
 

“In a place of excellence for artistic training like the Pratt Institute – stated Luciano Benetton – we aim to show the world as we would like it to be: colourful, in peace and without walls. Our idea of art generates dialogue between different visions and poetics, it builds bridges between apparently conflicting ideologies and faiths: ‘unity in diversity’, as augured by the prophetic German artist Joseph Beuys.”
 

To coincide with this exhibition at the Pratt Institute, Imago Mundi will make its debut on the Google Cultural Institute platform, which hosts the works of many museums and art projects around the world, where, with a click, ‘virtual’ visitors will have the opportunity to discover the images and videos of the event and the works exhibited in New York.

The Imago Mundi artists are promoted internationally through catalogs, the imagomundiart.com web platform and participation in shows and exhibitions in partnership with private and public institutions around the world: from Venice (Biennale 2013) to Senegal (Dak’Art off 2014), from Rome (Museo Carlo Bilotti, 2014/2015) to New Orleans (NOMA, 2014/2015), from Vienna (Belvedere & Winter Palace, 2015) to Turin (Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, 2015) and once again Venice, coinciding with the 56th Art Biennale (Giorgio Cini Foundation, Island of San Giorgio Maggiore, 2015).
 

About Imago Mundi Project:
Imago Mundi is an idea of Art. Imago Mundi is an idea of the World. Art and the World without borders – a democratic, collective and global map-in-the-making of human cultures – as envisioned by Luciano Benetton, creator of United Colors of Benetton, a leading fashion brand, and art patron by vocation.
 

With a single format, 10x12 cm, the collection brings together artists from every continent: to date, more than 17,000 from 100 countries. Established names and emerging talents, young and old, women and men, all side by side on the same starting line. And all involved on a voluntary and non-profit basis.
 

Under the aegis of the Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche, Imago Mundi brings together North and South, East and West, to create a dialogue in the name of Art. The result is an impassioned, creative, visionary kaleidoscope of techniques, colors, currents and inspirations. A mosaic of stories, passions, dreams, actions and contradictions, where each work lives by its own light, but at the same time serves as a piece in a global picture.
 

The Imago Mundi artists are promoted internationally through catalogs, the imagomundiart.com web platform and participation in art fairs and exhibitions in partnership with private and public institutions around the world: from Venice (Biennale 2013) to Senegal (Dak’Art Off 2014), from Rome (Museo Carlo Bilotti, 2014/2015) to New Orleans (NOMA, 2014/2015), from Vienna (Belvedere & Winter Palace, 2015) to Turin (Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, 2015) and Venice once again, in conjunction with the 56th Art Biennale (Fondazione Giorgio Cini, island of San Giorgio Maggiore, 2015).