OpenOpenside: a Space Dedicated to Students. And to Art

MUSIC, READINGS AND BOOK EXCHANGE. ON 4 APRIL THE INAUGURATION OF THE SPACE WITH NEW OPENING TIMES FOR STUDENTS. MAINTAINING ITS ARTISTIC CALLING, IT WILL BE AVAILABLE AS A GATHERING PLACE EVERY DAY FROM 12:30 TO 2:30PM

A big party, on 4 April at 12:30pm, will inaugurate the opening of Openside to all students for two hours a day, from 12:30 to 2:30pm: there will be a live concert by Bsma, Bocconi students music association, a reading by We reading and refreshments by Bfood, Bocconi students food association. Openside is a space located on the edge of the Bocconi Campus (via Roentgen 1), with great glass walls that look onto and blend with the city outside. This space was born in April 2015 as a meeting place for art lovers, “and with this opening to students, it will hopefully maintain its original artistic intention, and enrich it with new initiatives” says Paola Dubini, Bocconi professor and president of Bocconi arts campus (BAC), umbrella for all the artistic activities organized by and within the university.

OpenOpenside will also be the occasion to launch the “OpenLibrary” project, an initiative promoted by the association Bocconi d’inchiostro, which will allow students to offer, propose or exchange books. In the past days, through an online survey, more than 700 titles have been proposed by students and then collected and donated by BAC, so that they can be available for exchange. "The project was created to encourage students to read, given the dreadful data about books read on a national level," explains Gerardo Masuccio, law student and president of the association. "There will be two areas dedicated to book-crossing activity, one on the first floor in via Sarfatti 25, the other at Openside, an ideal place to read at lunchtime."

"The opening of Openside meets a common need: to have a dedicated gathering space for students" says Caterina Laurenzi, a student in her last year of Management and the founder of Bocconi Build- Urban & Industrial Design Students Association, which took part in the organization of the OpenOpenside event. "This initiative means aggregation and independence. Aggregation allows interaction, which is essential for the growth of each individual, and we all know that culture encourages exchange and connections. Independence is important for the concrete development of all those skills that we have learned during our studies."
 

by Benedetta Ciotto