In Japanese, one of the various meanings of “ie” is “building”, and opening shortly in the heart of San Gimignano in a historic building, ieedificio57 is a new non-profit research centre for the visual arts that aims to host domestic and international events.

Transformed from a family home in an ancient building, the premises of ie edificio57 comprises exhibition spaces on two levels and an underground project room named “Zattera” (“Raft”).

Spearheaded by artist Michelangelo Consani, this new cultural platform intends to establish connections between the artist’s own artistic practices and that of different personalities from the art world. Through this medium, Consani seeks to attain a better understanding of the sensibilities and planning processes of the hosted artist by way of forging a dialogue with another artist towards whom he feels a sense of “sentimental affinity”.

The first artist invited into a dialogue of this nature is Loris Cecchini.