HangarBicocca

Art museum in Milan, Italy

45°31′N 9°13′E / 45.52°N 9.22°E / 45.52; 9.22TypeArt museumDirectorVicente TodolíCuratorRoberta TenconiWebsitepirellihangarbicocca.org

Pirelli Hangar Bicocca is a site for contemporary art exhibitions, located in the Bicocca district of Milan, Italy. The building used to be a Pirelli factory. It was converted into 10,900 square metres of exhibition galleries in 2012.^[1]

Since its inception, Pirelli HangarBicocca has hosted exhibitions of artists such as Marina Abramović, Carsten Höller, Alfredo Jaar, Joan Jonas, Mike Kelley, Matt Mullican, Philippe Parreno, Laure Prouvost, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Maurizio Cattelan, and Lucio Fontana.^[2] It is also the site of a permanent installation by Anselm Kiefer.^[3]

History

HangarBicocca, set up in 2004, officially became a foundation in 2008 after a process of restoration of the former factory premises.^[4] Its external appearance recalls what was once its main function, i.e. the headquarters of one of the most important companies in Lombardy's engineering sector: the Ansaldo Group, founded in 1886 by engineer Ernesto Breda from Padua, who contributed to the development of the railway network in Northern Italy through the production of railway carriages, steam and electric locomotives.^[5]

Architecture

On the outside, the building has retained the industrial character of the company to which it belonged. The original rough concrete floors and high ceilings typical of the industrial style of the time have been preserved: in the room containing Anselm Kiefer's permanent installation The Seven Heavenly Palaces, traces of the rails used to test locomotives are still visible.^[6] This enormous exhibition space covering almost 15,000 square metres is divided into three main areas: the Cube, the Shed and the Navate.

In order of access to the exhibition spaces, the three main covers are described below.

The Shed

While maintaining the original inductive character of the typical industrial building of the 1920s, made of exposed brick, low height, with double-pitched roofs and large skylights, components for locomotives and agricultural machinery were produced here.^[7]

The Navate

This is the biggest area of the foundation and it is 30-meter-high building that permanently accommodates the sculptural installation The Seven Heavenly Palaces by Anselm Kiefer.^[8]

The Cube

The cube is a barrel-vaulted cubic body characterised by the fact that, as opposed to the other exhibition spaces in the complex, it enjoys natural lighting as it was used to test electric turbines.^[5]

Installations

Permanent installations

Anselm Kiefer, The Seven Heavenly Palaces, 2004
Fausto Melotti, La Sequenza, 1981

Temporary installations

OSGEMEOS, Efêmero, current
Trisha Baga, the eye, the eye and the ear, current
Chen Zhen, short-circuits, current
Cerith Wyn Evans, “....the Illuminating Gas”, 2020
Daniel Steegmann Mangrané, A Leaf-Shaped Animal Draws The Hand, 2020
Sheela Gowda, Remains, 2019
Giorgio Andreotta Calò, CittàdiMilano, 2019
Mario Merz, Igloos, 2019
Leonor Antunes, The last days in Galliate, 2019
Matt Mullican, The Feeling of Things, 2018
Eva Kot’átková, The Dream Machine is Asleep, 2018
Vari artisti, Take me (I'm Yours), 2018
Lucio Fontana, Environments, 2018
Rosa Barba, From Source to Poem to Rhythm to Reader, 2017
Miroslaw Balka, Crossover/s, 2017
Laure Prouvost, GDM – Grand Dad’s Visitor Center, 2017
Kishio Suga, Situations, 2017
Carsten Höller, Doubt, 2016
Several artists, Architecture as Art, 2016 (on the occasion of the XXI Triennale Esposizione Internazionale Milano 2016)
Petrit Halilaj, Space Shuttle in the Garden, 2016
Philippe Parreno, Hypothesis, 2016
Damian Ortega, Casino, 2015
Juan Muñoz, Double Bind & Around, 2015
Céline Condorelli, Bau Bau, 2015
Joan Jonas, Light Time Tales, 2015
João Maria Gusmão & Pedro Paiva, Papagaio, 2014
Cildo Meireles, Cildo Meireles. Installations, 2014
Micol Assaël, ILIOKATAKINIOMUMASTILOPSARODIMAKOPIOTITA, 2014
Dieter Roth Björn Roth, Islands, 2014
Ragnar Kjartansson, The Visitors, 2014
Mike Kelley, Eternity is a Long Time, 2013
Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Primitive, 2013
Tomás Saraceno, On Space Time Foam, 2013
Carsten Nicolai, Unidisplay, 2013
Emilia and Illja Kabakov, The Happiest Man, 2012
Wilfredo Prieto, Equilibrando la curva, 2012
Hans-Peter Feldmann, Shadow Play, 2012
Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi, NON NON NON, 2012
Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, From here to ear, 2011
Surasi Kusolwong, Ping—Pong, Panda, Povera, Pop—Punk, Planet, Politics and P—Art, 2011
Several artists, Terre vulnerabili 4/4, 2011
Several artists, Terre vulnerabili 3/4, 2011
Several artists, Terre vulnerabili 2/4, 2011
Several artists, Terre vulnerabili 1/4, 2011
Phill Niblock, The movement of people working, 2010
Christian Boltanski, Personnes, 2010
Carlos Casas, End, 2010
Several artists, Fuori Centro, 2010
Anthony McCall, Breath: the vertical works, 2009
Alfredo Jaar, It is difficult, 2009
BLU, the graffiti on the Hangar walls, 2008
Lucy and Jorge Orta, Antarctica, 2008
Daniele Puppi, Fatica n.16, 2008
Contemporary artists from India, Urban Manners, 2008
Emergenze project's several artists, Not afraid of the dark, 2007
Several artists, Collateral, 2007
Several artists in collaboration with START Association, Start@Hangar, 2007
Marina Abramović, Balkan Epic, 2006
Adelina von Fürstenberg, Playground & Toys, 2005
Mark Wallinger, Easter, 2005

References

^ "PIRELLI CORPORATE :: Sustainability Channel - hangar-bicocca".
^ Lucio Fontana: Environments. Pugliese, Marina, Barbara Ferriani, and Vincente Todolí. Milano: Mousse Publishing. 2018. ISBN 9788867492916. OCLC 1021031493.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
^ "Anselm Kiefer, The Seven Heavenly Palaces (2004-2015)". Archived from the original on 2016-03-05.
^ MiBAC, Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali (2012). I luoghi del contemporaneo - The Places of Contemporary Art 2012. Gangemi Editore. p. 48. ISBN 9788849224108.
^ ^a ^b Emanuele Gabardi, Vittoria Morganti (2015). MUSEI DI MILANO. Lo spettacolo della cultura e della bellezza al tempo di Expo. FrancoAngeli. ISBN 9788891725967.
^ "Art and Industry at HangarBicocca. The dialog continues".
^ "Hangar Bicocca, Via Chiese 2 - Milano (MI) – Architetture – Lombardia Beni Culturali". www.lombardiabeniculturali.it. Retrieved 2021-01-11.
^ Laraia, Michele (2019). Beyond Decommissioning. The Reuse and Redevelopment of Nuclear Installations. Woodhead Publishing.