Life must be lived live!

Milan, 30th April 2020

Exactly 5 years have passed since the moment which has been called the "rebirth ofMilan" started. The wonderful energy that was unleashed on the 1st of May 2015 hasspread from the Expo to all over Italy, bringing our country back to the center of global

attention.

These memories are now more valuable than ever because of the unprecedentedsituation we are experiencing: the whole world is now standing still, as if suspended.

Obviously, for us who professionally build dreams and live on emotions, for us who work

in shows, concerts, events, doubts about tomorrow are many. We are suffering

professionally and emotionally, our sector is probably one of the most affected by the

pandemic worldwide, from China to Canada. It is also considered by some shortsighted

people to be a superfluous sector. But we must defend shows, events and entertainment

because they are the living part of our culture, a part without which humanity would be

deeply impoverished.

I was born in Venice, a city that has suffered a lot in the recent years and now,

paradoxically, a city that is rediscovering itself in its original and natural beauty. I am

lucky enough to have known more than half the world thanks to my fantastic job, a job

that has made me discover the most beautiful and authentic sides of many different

cultures.

And today, which seems to me as if we are living in a horror film, like everyone else, I

question myself and observe the people who, not being in the front linesin the hospitals

and in the management of this crisis, are reacting in different ways whilst closed in their

homes: people suffering from loneliness or people exasperated in overcrowded houses,

people who gain weight and people who starve.

We are also realizing how many things are superfluous in our life and are no longer

sustainable for this planet: we buy too many useless goods, we take too many

unnecessary trips and we create too much pollution dictated only by performance.

In the future, we should prefer quality over quantity, even in experiences.

So I wonder what we really need. I personally believe that we need to be human, to

have physical contact and emotions. It has been so for three thousand years, the Greek

theater and the square as a place for the community have existed since then.

This is what people will always need: to return to dream and find themselves together

in a great collective passion.

When the time of the emergency will be over, when scientists allow us, with social

distancing or hopefully with a vaccine, the time will come to dream and to imagine our

future. The time for laughter and passions will come, the time to go back to the

stadiums, to music and to wonder. This time will come again.

We will change many things, technology will help us, but the need to meet and marvel

at beauty together will not disappear and can never be replaced by virtuality or be

mediated by a screen. Just as Youporn does not replace sex, the digital platforms that

we are now using will never respond in a definite way to the human need of living their

passions. Life must be lived Live!

And then we will be ready. All of us, creators of events, shows, concerts, beauty, all of

us will have to be ready. Because it is the great magic of our work, the extraordinary

power to turn dreams into reality, which will light up our future again.

Today I feel that energy, thinking back to the symbol I have created 5 years ago for the

Milan Expo, which nobody wanted at the beginning but then turned out to be a great

aggregator of emotions, which everyone wanted to lookup at, with their noses upturned,

feeling a little bit like children.

In 2015 the Tree of Life was defined as a symbol of rebirth by President Mattarella and

today there is a need for a new rebirth, for Milan and for Italy.

Expo has changed the face of a city; we know it is possible to start again. Let's not stop

dreaming, and let's do it together, but with a new role: to support change by creating

the necessary emotions to spread pride, courage and energy for the future.

Marco Balich

The Tree of Life, symbol of Expo Milano 2015, is the icon that gathered 15 million visitors around it at the last

Universal Exposition. The Tree of Life was born in 2015 from an idea by Marco Balich, Artistic Director of the

Italian Pavilion, thanks to the contribution of Diana Bracco, Coldiretti, Pirelli, Orgoglio Brescia, Studio Giò Forma

(Florian Boje, Cristiana Picco, Claudio Santucci), Koert Vermeulen and Marco Astarita together with Balich

Worldwide Shows.

Marco Balich is considered one of the most relevant, innovative and expert figures in the production of Olympic

Ceremonies and major live events. The next Olympic commitment is the Tokyo 2020/2021 Olympic Games.

PRESS OFFICE Roberta Guaschino

roberta.guaschino@balichws.com

M +39 3474504333