Elica e Fondazione Ermanno Casoli presentano E-STRAORDINARIO for Kids #11 con "Dietro ai miei occhi".
Fabriano, September 11, 2025 – Artist Giovanni Termini (Assoro, 1972; lives and works in Pesaro) was the protagonist of the 11th edition of E-STRAORDINARIO for Kids, with the project BEHIND MY EYES, held in Fabriano yesterday, Wednesday, September 10, 2025.
E-STRAORDINARIO for Kids is the educational initiative of the Fondazione Ermanno Casoli – conceived and curated by Marcello Smarrelli – dedicated to the children of employees of the Elica Group, the Italian company at the forefront of producing cooking appliances. Every year, the initiative offers children the opportunity to engage with contemporary art through direct experience with an artist, collaboratively creating a collective artwork. The day also serves as a company open day for families, allowing children to experience the company for a day, discover their parents’ workplace, and learn how products are created, also thanks to their contribution.
“The strength of E-STRAORDINARIO for Kids lies in its continuity: projects that return, grow, and generate lasting value for people, businesses, and the local community,” stated Francesco Casoli, Chairman of Elica.
During the workshop preparatory to the creation of the artwork, Giovanni Termini guided the children through an imaginative reflection on what lies beyond a door or a wall, encouraging them to represent with shapes and colours what cannot be seen, but exists in their imagination.
The artistic research of Giovanni Termini explores the relationship between matter, form, and space through installations that evoke workplaces, construction sites, and transitional architectures. Through the use of raw or semi-processed materials – such as iron, wood, plywood, and concrete – the artist reinterprets ordinary objects, removing them from their original context and transforming them into elements charged with symbolic and poetic meaning.
“In his works,” explains Marcello Smarrelli, Artistic Director of the Fondazione Ermanno Casoli, “Termini often makes use of ordinary elements, subjecting them to processes of manipulation through play and irony. Art, in its playful dimension, provides an additional level of interpretation for these objects, revealing their communicative power through a process that becomes an educational and cognitive tool for new and unexpected visions of reality.”
The day opened with a lecture by illustrator Francesco Fagnani, who guided the children through a creative journey to transform thoughts into stories and stories into images, moving through words, emotions, and colours. The aim was to help children understand and experience the process that starts from an abstract idea, develops through storytelling, and culminates in visual representation, introducing the workshop themes in an engaging way.
Guided by Giovanni Termini, the young participants engaged in a creative activity, giving shape to their idea of what lies “behind a threshold.” On large multilayer wooden panels, each child represented, using pastel colours, acrylics, and various materials, their vision of what is hidden “behind their eyes.” The panels, designed to be artistically fitted into panic bars, were assembled into a permanent installation displayed within the company premises: a collective artwork symbolising transition, discovery, and the possibility of looking beyond what is visible.
The day was enriched by the participation of the Fabriano Library, which organised games, animated readings, and storytelling workshops, involving children in activities designed to stimulate imagination, listening, and language skills.
“In such an uncertain and contradictory period as the one we are currently experiencing, we are even more convinced that investing in our people is essential,” stated Deborah Carè, Chief Human Resources Officer at Elica “because creating an environment capable of combining economic, social, and cultural value fosters a sense of belonging and organisational cohesion.”
Rethinking factories as cultural hubs is a powerful idea: to be sustainable and liveable, workplaces must offer opportunities for personal and cultural growth. BEHIND MY EYES not only stimulated children’s creativity and imagination, but also represented a collective experience capable of transforming the workplace into a space for culture, relationships, and shared growth – the primary goal of all the art-based activities promoted by the Fondazione Ermanno Casoli.
