The exhibition, with free admission, will be open until 12 October from 9.30 a.m. to 8.30 p.m.: an event open to all, to retrace the history of Unicoop Firenze, Tuscany and Italy, and to celebrate together the important milestone of fifty years
50 years of Unicoop Firenze: a history of people: this is the title of the exhibition celebrating the cooperative’s 50th anniversary, officially opened this morning at Stazione Leopolda in Florence, in the presence of Daniela Mori, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Dario Nardella, Mayor of Florence, Matteo Biffoni, President of Anci and Eugenio Giani, President of the Region of Tuscany. The exhibition, which occupies the entire space of Stazione Leopolda, is set up with themed areas, video installations, a space dedicated to the Fondazione Il Cuore si scioglie, a Bibliocoop area, a temporary Coop.fi and a refreshment point. Its narrative focuses on the history of the cooperative, represented as a tree: the immersive tour starts from the roots, the origins of the cooperative, passes through the trunk, where images and drawings catapult the visitor directly from the early 1970s to the beginning of the third millennium, and arrives at the foliage at the top of the tree. The tree is a metaphor which is meant to represent the past, present and future of Unicoop Firenze.
Along the tree images, photos, texts and videos tell the visitor how the company has evolved and how Unicoop Firenze has changed over the years to become, with everyone’s contribution, the cooperative we know today. The exhibition features a video installation by ETT that tells the story of the Tuscan territory, from Florence, Fiesole, Lucca, Volterra, Pistoia, Prato, San Gimignano, Val d’Orcia and the Chianti areas – from a dual perspective: that of the landscape and the more human one, with glimpses of villages, towns, nature and homes, accompanied by music that alternates delicacy with grand, lyrical moments.
A video projection system on the two boundary walls enhances the physical layout of the exhibition. The video projections feature Tuscan cities, where nature and architecture come together in a dynamic dialogue. The alternation of images on the two surfaces makes for an enchanting flow and invites the viewer to move his or her gaze, discovering new details and nuances.