About Us SustainArt

The sustainArt Observatory is an illycaffè project and forms part of the broader illycaffe's sustainArt project. Created to deepen the company's involvement in contemporary art, illy sustainArt brings together the company's leading values – ethics and aesthetics.

It's commitment is to support the artistic community in those countries where, at the moment this is not consolidated, by offering high profile visibility opportunities to the works of emerging talents.

Lining up with illycaffe's long engagement to the arts, in recent years, the sustainArt project developed a variety of different collaborations in order to support worldwide artists. Launched at the 52nd International Art Exhibition in Venice, it cooperated with IILA (Italo-Latin American Institute), an international body commissioned by the Biennale since 1972 to organize the participation of Latin-American artists, with their own pavilion, in Venice's International Art Exhibitions.

In November 2007, in collaboration with Artissima, the international contemporary art fair, three curators Meskerem Assegued (Ethiopia), Mariangela Mendez Prencke (Colombia) and Suman Gopinath (India) – selected in collaboration with the Fair – were involved with the objective of launching and stimulating the creation of an art system in their countries.

In collaboration with Arco 08 – the Contemporary ARt Fair of Madrid, which had Brazil as guest nation for it's 2008 edition – illycaffe' presented during the art-fair the illy sustainArt Prize, dedicated to young Brazilian artists under the age of 35.

The creation of the sustainArt Observatory, a platform for new opportunities and meeting point for information dedicated to emerging artists, curators and critics around the world, brings further Illy's commitment to help the artist community in developing countries.

illy's Sustainability programme comprises activities in all fields that affect the entire coffee production process and everything contributing to it: lands, people, environment and technology. For more information please click on the link below.