Work begins on the new Museo del Novecento. A step towards the future for Milan

Two years behind schedule, the Secondo Arengario has finally been finalised to kick-start the ‘doubling project’ for the Museo del Novecento overlooking Piazza Duomo. The completion of the works is not expected for (at least) another two years. No one is committing themselves (first and foremost architect Sonia Calzoni, who designed the redevelopment project, complete with a suspended walkway between the two Arengari), and Gianfranco Maraniello, the museum’s director, finds himself on ‘standby’, as his appointment is a sort of ‘fiduciary contract’ with the council, which, as we know, will change in the spring. What will happen next (on this front too, of course) remains to be seen: “To those who ask me which exhibition I’ll open the Second Arengario with, I don’t know what to say,” he tells Il Foglio.

Uncertainty about the future direction is not good for a museum that already has various critical issues in its very DNA (the internal layout, designed by Italo Rota, forces visitors to follow tortuous routes): a different form of governance is needed, with greater autonomy (over the management of ticket revenue and the production of its own merchandise, for example). There are examples of civic institutions that work well: the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, for instance, is a good model to look to.

That said, and whilst we await its future expansion, the Museo del Novecento offers some worthwhile glimpses into the past. On the fourth floor, an exhibition (included in the ticket price) has opened dedicated to Tommaso Trini, aged 89 and with a studio in Porta Venezia, one of the most astute art critics on the Italian scene: he understood Arte Povera, Land Art and Conceptual Art before others did, and was not daunted by new technologies. This exhibition, based on his private archive, is a fine antidote to contemporary amnesia, as are the new ‘focus’ sections (three rooms) recently curated by Maraniello, also on the museum’s fourth floor.

These are in-depth features dedicated to key figures from Milan in the 1970s and 1980s: “Vincenzo Agnetti e la poesia”, produced in collaboration with the Agnetti Archive, explores the creative role of words and gestures in the final years of his career; ‘Enrico Castellani and relief surfaces’ finally presents a substantial series of works by the master of curved surfaces, whilst a group exhibition showcases the works of ‘illustrious Milanese’ artists such as Valerio Adami, Lucio Del Pezzo, Bobo Piccoli, Emilio Tadini and Alik Cavaliere. Incidentally: to mark the centenary of the artist’s birth, the Alik Cavaliere Art Centre is organising a study day on 15 October at the Brera Academy, focusing on post-war Milan, when the city was one of the most remarkable artistic hubs in Europe.