To celebrate the possibility to visit museums again after the lockdown periods, the fifth edition of Milano MuseoCity will take place for one week: from 2 to 7 March 2021. The event, promoted by the Municipality of Milan | Culture and realised in collaboration with the Association MuseoCity, was created to make people aware of the richness of the artistic heritage of the city’s museums and enhance their cultural function.
Starting on 2nd March, the museums involved will be opening their physical or virtual doors to the public, offering hundreds of appointments including guided tours, workshops for children, conferences, meetings, special openings and special initiatives all characterised by a single leitmotif, MUSEUMS HEAL THE CITY, which aims to highlight the guiding role of museums even in dark times, when the therapeutic, consoling and reassuring power of art and the treasures preserved in museums is even more important.
Among the institutions present for the first time: Joe Colombo Archive, Giancarlo Iliprandi Association, AIAP Graphic Design Documentation Centre, Shoa Memorial in Milan, Aurelia Josz Botanical Museum, CASVA – Centre for Advanced Studies in Visual Arts, Bicocca University Museum.
From 2nd to 7th March the SECRET MUSEUM itinerary returns, curated this year by Federica Giacobello with the supervision by Gemma Sena Chiesa, dedicated to the theme Visiting the Museum: caring for the soul. This year’s edition is accompanied by the podcast MUSEO SEGRETO – produced thanks to the support of MUMAC – Museo della Macchina per Caffè di Gruppo Cimbali – which identifies seven ideal walks, imaginary routes guided by two narrating voices, which tell and suggest to the listener what to visit.
Thursday 4th March Online conversation on the occasion of the presentation of OP-PO, the seat designed by a group of POLI.design students, winner of the competition Sitting Muses, a seat for museums.
On Saturday 6th March, Palazzo Reale hosts a conference entitled Musei in Ascolto (Museums in Listening), curated by Anna Detheridge and broadcast live via streaming on the association’s YouTube channel: a public debate on the guiding role of museums with respect to the territory and the role of proximity in the post-Covid period.
Other initiatives worth mentioning include: Connessioni Culturali, a series of three meetings organised by MuseoCity in collaboration with Milanoguida, with suggestions for routes through Milan’s museums, which can then be found in the App, on the themes of Nature, Women and the city’s contemporary art sculptures; a virtual reality visit to the Medardo Rosso room in the GAM – Galleria d’Arte Moderna Milano; works of art that can be enjoyed in augmented reality directly from the sofa at home; the video Musei e archivi d’impresa: l’avvenire della memoria presented by Museimpresa, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year; the 3D virtual tour for everyone, created thanks to the “innovation and beauty in the contemporary world” project; and the Farmacopea Museale video, a special initiative by Rosanna Pavoni linked to the storiemilanesi project. Org, both proposed by the Fondazione Adolfo Pini; the digital use of Arnaldo Pomodoro’s Labyrinth thanks to Labyr-Into and the online workshop for children Il mio labirinto, promoted by the Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro.
Finally, the event will be accompanied by the MUSEO DIFFUSO APP, created last year and constantly updated (downloadable at app.museocity. it), equipped with geolocated positioning and created with the intention of making it easier for the public to choose between the many events that will be offered during these days: in fact, it contains all the information on participating museums, on the works of art on the facades of Milanese buildings of the twentieth century and on over 40 works of Street Art in augmented reality granted by MAUA-Museo Arte Urbana Aumentata, to discover city itineraries outside the centre and the ordinary art circuits.
The complete programme of all the initiatives is available on www.museocity.it, on www.yesmilano.it and on the MuseoCity app.
PHOTO CREDIT
Cover image: Museo Bagatti Valsecchi – Sala delle armi. Credits Ruggero Longoni
1. Acquario e Civica Stazione Idrobiologica, L’Acquario per la città 1906 – 2021
2. Musei del Castello Sforzesco, Gabinetto dei disegni Leonardo da Vinci e allievi, Testa di Leda 1504-1506. Courtesy Comune di Milano, tutti i diritti riservati, Gabinetto dei Disegni del Castello Sforzesco
3. Villa Necchi Campiglio | FAI, Arturo Martini Gli amanti 1920
4. Casa del Manzoni
5. GAM – Galleria d’Arte Moderna
