Pirelli Hangar Bicocca presents the 2018 programming signed by the artistic director Vicente Todolí: four unique exhibition projects, produced and created specifically for the former industrial structure of the Milanese institution, one of the largest in Europe.
The 2018 exhibition calendar offers the public an unprecedented overview of contemporary art, delving into different themes and aspects of installation as an art form.
Furthermore, in 2018, Pirelli HangarBicocca, totally managed and supported by Pirelli, confirmed its commitment to making the exhibitions produced accessible to all, completely free of charge, guaranteeing research activity on the most interesting artistic figures of the 2018th and XNUMXst centuries, as well as a constant editorial activity which foresees the publication of a catalog for each exhibition. In XNUMX, the desire to disseminate today's art themes was also renewed through the Public Program, a cultural schedule of conversations, special visits, moments of in-depth study, film and video screenings, musical and performative events, as well as an introduction program and understanding of contemporary art aimed at children, families, high school and university students.
Adherence to the Membership program, aimed at anyone who wishes to join the community of Pirelli HangarBicocca and sharing the passion for art, also continues to ensure special opportunities for in-depth study and to allow privileged access to the institution's events and cultural offerings.
Exhibition Program 2018
Eva Kot'átková
“The Dream Machine is Asleep”
Shed
Press preview February 13, 2018
Inauguration February 14, 2018
15 February – 22 July 2018
The work of Eva Kot'átková (Prague, 1982) investigates the intrinsic and extrinsic forces that influence human behavior, such as norms and educational systems that can manipulate and generate situations of control.
For “The Dream Machine is Asleep” Kot'átková presents an engaging selection of new installations, sculptures, collages and performative works, focused on the conception of the human body as a machine and organ that continues to perform its functions during sleep, creating inner worlds parallels.
Based on her personal experiences and recent body of works – such as the video installation Stomach of the World (2017) – the artist transforms the exhibition space into a labyrinthine organism through which to explore private thoughts, intimate visions and dreams but also the fears and challenges of contemporary society.
Edited by Roberta Tenconi
Matt Mullican
“The Feeling of Things”
aisles
Press preview April 10, 2018
Inauguration 11 April 2018
April 12 - September 16, 2018
“The Feeling of Things” is the first major retrospective in Italy of Matt Mullican (Santa Monica, California, 1951).
Active since the XNUMXs, through his work, Matt Mullican has ceaselessly sought to explain and give structure to his surroundings, developing a vocabulary and a complex system of models which he defines as "the five worlds". Each world corresponds to a different level of perception and is represented by as many colours: green for the physical and material elements; blue for everyday life (the “frameless world”); yellow for objects that acquire value, such as art (the "world in the frame"); black and white for language and symbols; red for subjectivity and ideas.
For Pirelli HangarBicocca, the artist has conceived an imposing sculptural structure in the shape of his iconic cosmologies in five colors which occupies the 3.500 square meters of the exhibition space in the Navate. Visitors are invited to enter and walk through this architecture, discovering the thousands of works exhibited inside. Presenting a broad selection of works from the XNUMXs to the present, including paintings, frottages, flags, glass sculptures, works on paper, videos, light boxes, floor works and large installations, the exhibition explores the most hermetic and profound aspects of life.
Edited by Roberta Tenconi
Leonor Antunes
Shed
Press preview September 12, 2018
Inauguration 13 September 2018
14 September 2018 – January 2019
Traditional materials, such as rope, wood, brass, leather, rubber and cork, together with manual and artisanal techniques, form the basis of the work of Leonor Antunes (Lisbon, 1972), a Portuguese artist active in Berlin. Antunes creates elegant sculptures and installations through which she questions the meaning of everyday objects and the social role of art and design as a means to improve the quality of life.
For its first exhibition in Milan, Antunes presents a new group of works and an installation
site-specific in the Shed space. Entering into relationship with the local context, the artist reflects on the modernist tradition of the city of Milan, and in particular on the work of avant-garde architects and designers such as Franca Helg (1920-1989), Bruno Munari (1907-1998) and Franco Albini (1905-1977), source of inspiration for a series of specially created floor and suspended sculptures.
Edited by Roberta Tenconi
Mario Merz
“Igloos”
aisles
Press preview October 23, 2018
Inauguration 24 October 2018
25 October 2018 - 24 February 2019
The work of Mario Merz (Milan, 1925 - Milan, 2003), a central figure of Arte Povera, explores the transformation processes that are part of nature and human life. Among the first Italian artists to work with installation, in the 1968s Merz went beyond the two-dimensionality of the painting by perforating canvases and objects with neon tubes. In XNUMX he introduced what would become one of the symbols of his work: the igloo, an element that he will continue to explore throughout the course of his production. A metaphor for inhabited places and spaces, Merz's igloos are often made with metal structures covered with fragments of various materials, including clay, glass, stone, jute and iron.
The exhibition is organized in collaboration with the Merz Foundation of Turin and will present in the spaces of the Navate over thirty igloos built between 1968 and 2003, exploring the fundamental aspects and themes of this body of work, such as the relationship between inside and outside, between physical and conceptual place, between individual and collective space.
Edited by Vicente Todolí
The art program
The 2018 artistic program is conceived by the Artistic Director Vicente Todolí together with the curatorial department: Roberta Tenconi, curator; Lucia Aspesi, assistant curator; Fiammetta Griccioli, assistant curator.
Under the direction of Vicente Todolí, since 2013, solo exhibitions by Ragnar Kjartansson, Dieter and Björn Roth, Micol Assaël, Cildo Meireles, João Maria Gusmão and Pedro Paiva, Joan Jonas, Céline Condorelli, Juan Muñoz, Damián Ortega, Philippe Parreno, Petrit Halilaj, Carsten Höller, Kishio Suga, Laure Prouvost, Miroslaw Balka, Rosa Barba, Lucio Fontana (until 25.02.2018), as well as the collective exhibition Take Me (I'm Yours) (until 14.01.201).
