EVERY MAN TO HIS WORK. Questions to a changing world
Curated by Marco Saporiti, Giorgio Vittadini and a group of young professionals.
Work is the principal aspect in which each of us engages in relationship with reality, seeing as it takes up the majority of our time, and for which is needed years of study. The world of work in the last ten years has quickly had strong changes, most of all because of technological innovation, from globalization and, in the last decade, from the pressure of the economic crisis. The labor market is becoming always more competitive, but, above all, work has become less of a fixed place and more of a path. Among the young, questions on work are many and they often increase for those following this path.
It is necessary to recuperate a conception of work that is today lost, reinventing it also where it is not, whether it concerns that of an employed worker or that of an entrepreneur.
How are we taking back work in life today?
At the center of this recovery, of which the exhibit wants to document, is the subject that, facing many questions and needs, is moved in search of an answer.
By starting to deepen the theme, beginning from the questions of a group of about twenty young people, some facts have emerged:
› In the light of some profound changes that have hit the world of work in the last decade, work is no longer conceivable as a “fixed place”, but rather as a path.
› This new configuration requests that of each of us be “entrepreneurs of oneself”, both for those who are employees and for those such as entrepreneurs or free professionals. This context restores the person at the center, in his liberty and originality.
The exhibit seeks to highlight with objective components (empirical evidence) in what ways and during what periods has the world of work changed, and to make available to all the of examples of every profession, age, role, and formation, for which it is possible in this context to be protagonists of one’s path, constructing a good for oneself and for the whole of society.
The exhibit will propose some starting points from the research of James Heckman, the Nobel Memorial prize-winner for Economics, which highlights how non-cognitive skills have a positive effect on success in work, on par with basic skills acquired during one’s studies (cognitive skills). This together with non-cognitive skills becomes defined by Heckman as “character”. To work today one needs to be equipped with a complete character, of an openness to reality broadly speaking. In a world in which everything changes continually, it is not requested to know only some concepts, but a method to face realty which renders one capable of flexibility, creativity, problem-solving ability, ability to judge, and the capacity to interact. One could think that this be the fruit of a new technological and formative efficiency; instead, experience shows that this is the fruit of an education that continues to be open to reality in its entirety.
The path of the exhibit will be introduced by an in-depth analysis on the professions of antiquity, to then follow with an area that describes the situation of work today. The heart of the exhibit will be a space with zones dedicated to diverse, large-scale themes, where videos will be played with interviews of the protagonists. Lastly, there will be an area where, every day, the protagonists will speak with experts and companies on important themes about work.
