Vicente Todoli Announces HangarBicocca Exhibition Programme, 9/19

HangarBicocca, the contemporary art space in Milan promoted by Pirelli, announced the new exhibition schedule at a press conference held today. Vicente Todolí, the Artistic Advisor for HangarBicocca and former director of Tate Modern in London from 2003 to 2010, is putting his name to the programme for the next three years, revealing the exhibitions planned for October 2013 to April 2015.

Marco Tronchetti Provera, Chairman of Fondazione HangarBicocca, declared: "HangarBicocca is the finest expression of the values of innovation, internationalism and consideration for the community that are at the heart of Pirelli's corporate culture. The 200,000 visitors registered in the first year of revival reward our commitment and show how investing in culture can have positive effects on the city and territory. The appointment of Vicente Todolí as Artistic Advisor is a demonstration of our long-term vision: over the next three years the international scope of this space will be further expanded, with an exhibition programme that will bring artists of great renown to Milan and put HangarBicocca into active dialogue with museums and cultural institutions the world over."

Announcing the first part of the prestigious programme for the next two years, Vicente Todolí clearly emphasised how the uniqueness of the space and of the exhibitions was the starting point for drafting the calendar for HangarBicocca: "The Unique Features of HangarBicocca will make each exhibition project quite unparalleled: the encounter between the space and art, and their coexistence and cohabitation will augment the potential of both one and the other. It is as though one plus one were three. "The curator of HangarBicocca, Andrea Lissoni, put the emphasis on continuity with what has led to the success achieved so far: a focus on the dimension of space and time, and on the coexistence of a number of art forms, as well as the ability to touch on topical themes and pinpoint future developments.

The exhibition schedule will alternate well-established International Artists with successful young artists, both Italian and foreign. All the exhibitions will be produced from scratch, designed especially for the HangarBicocca spaces, or in collaboration with other contemporary art institutions.

The programme starts on 19 September 2013 with The Visitors, an installation by Ragnar Kjartansson (Reykjavík, 1976), an artist also exhibiting at the Venice Biennale, with nine video projections that together form a great choral musical performance. Islands, a major retrospective of works by Dieter Roth (Hanover, 1930 - Basel, 1998), will open on 31 October 2013. It will include his most important installations, paintings, prints, videos and films, many of which were made together with his son Björn Roth from the 1970s to the 1990s. The exhibition programme continues in January 2014 with a solo exhibition by Micol Assaël (Rome, 1979), who has already made a name for herself internationally with exhibitions at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, and at Kunsthalle Basel. She will be showing installations based on physical dynamics that involve the viewer both mentally and perceptively. A solo exhibition of works by Cildo Meireles (Rio de Janeiro, 1948), one of the most important artists of recent decades, is planned for the spring of 2014. The event, organised in collaboration with the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid and the Museu de Serralves in Oporto, will present some key installations, including A Traves and Babel. In May 2014 HangarBicocca will be the venue for an anthological exhibition by Pedro Paiva (Lisbon, 1979) and João Maria Gusmão (Lisbon, 1977), an artistic duo who work on the theme of cinema and the camera obscura, who have also been chosen by Massimiliano Gioni for this year's Venice Biennale.

The first Italian retrospective of works by Joan Jonas (New York, 1936), rightly considered the initiator of art performance, is planned for June 2014. In September that year, HangarBicocca will be putting on a solo exhibition byCéline Condorelli (Paris, 1974), who is noted for her ability to create interactions with space, and in October it will be the turn of Juan Muñoz (Madrid, 1953 - Ibiza, 2001), one of the most important post-war sculptors, in a project with his most important installations, including Double Bind. Lastly, 2015 will open with Damián Ortega (Mexico City, 1967), an internationally renowned artist and participant at the Venice Biennale 2013, whose works and environmental installations have radically transformed the traditional idea of sculpture.
HangarBicocca is an important contemporary art centre run by Pirelli which, as Founding Member and Promoter together with Regione Lombardia, now entirely supports its activities. The exhibition area was created by converting a former factory, turning it into an authentic powerhouse of art in which research and innovation perfectly reflect the company's corporate values. Brought back to life in 2012 with exhibitions of International Artists such as Wilfredo Prieto, Ilya & Emilia Kabakov, Carsten Nicolai, Tomás Saraceno and Apichatpong Weerasethakul, HangarBicocca has attracted more than 200,000 visitors from Italy and around the world over the past ten months.

With its new programme, HangarBicocca is reaffirming itself as a place capable of attracting an international audience with exhibitions at the highest curatorial level and of great visual impact, thanks to the presence of monumental works rarely shown to the public.

Pirelli's commitment to offer everyone free access to a calendar of such high quality is the natural continuation of a long tradition of dedication to culture, research and innovation that has been an inherent part of the company ever since it was first set up 140 years ago. Contemporary art is indeed the medium that best reflects the values of innovation, openness to diversity, and the search for solutions that are capable of anticipating the future.

Pirelli also guarantees an intense calendar of activities for the non-specialist public, schools and families, with workshops, films, summer camps and evening events - which are also free of charge - making HangarBicocca a living space that is helping to transform a former industrial district into one of the most interesting and lively places in Milan and Europe.

Photo by: Agostino Osio, courtesy of Fondazione HangarBicocca

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