A project by Fondazione Galleria Milano, made possible with the support of Fondazione di Comunità Milano
AUTOPROGETTAZIONE HAS STARTED, AND YOU CAN BE PART OF IT TOO. YOU HAVE UNTIL 30 NOVEMBER
Fondazione di Comunità Milano supports the project and has also launched a fundraising campaign that will allow us to receive an additional contribution.
Help us reach our goal of €1,167 to unlock a matching reward equal to three times the amount raised. Every donation, however small, brings us closer to the goal…
Find all the project details here
In 1974, Enzo Mari presented Proposta per un’autoprogettazione (Proposal for Self-Design) at Galleria Milano: drawings and instructions for building furniture yourself, with simple assemblies of rough boards and nails. It was an invitation to take a critical stance toward industrial production and to reclaim the autonomy of making. Anyone could use those drawings, provided they did not turn it into a commercial activity.
In 2020, during the pandemic, Galleria Milano took up that legacy with Autoprogettazione, a digital project curated by Toni Merola, Nicola Pellegrini and Bianca Trevisan. Dozens of artists devised instructions for making an artwork with materials that everyone had at home. The public responded with broad participation: contemporary art could be accessible, shared and practicable by anyone.
Today the project is starting again thanks to the valuable support of Fondazione di Comunità Milano. The shift from 2020 is substantial: from an individual, digital experience lived at home during lockdown, to a collective process rooted in the local area. The instructions the artists offered in 2020 become a working tool once again, this time in person and together with selected organisations.
The new edition is dedicated to the memory of Toni Merola, colleague and friend, and of Enzo Mari, to whom autoprogettazione owes its original inspiration.
The instructions are devised by artists and designed to be carried out by anyone, using simple materials available to everyone. They require no technical skills or specialised tools, which is why they break down the barriers to accessing contemporary art. Participants do not reproduce a model; they interpret an indication and make it their own. They become co-authors of the work, not mere recipients of an activity.
The method is also an opportunity. Through the encounter with art and a return to know-how, participants can meet one another, re-design themselves and reflect on their own condition. The path may simply have creative potential; for those who wish, it can also open up to deeper dimensions.
The workshops are led by the Foundation together with an art therapist and, thanks to the organisations involved, are aimed at diverse groups:
Workshops. The artists’ instructions become the starting point for making works together with participants, in the settings of the different organisations involved.
Exhibition. At Fondazione Galleria Milano, the exhibition will bring together the instructions and a selection of works, both those made at home during lockdown and those made in the workshops.
Catalogue-manual. A volume of 700 copies, edited by Fondazione Galleria Milano and published by Kunstverein Milano, which will document the artists’ instructions and reflect on the workshop process. Also conceived as a manual, in the spirit of do-it-yourself, it will be a tool for anyone who wants to repeat the experience.
Final talk. A meeting open to the city, aimed at citizens and professionals in culture, the arts and the third sector, to reflect together on the experience and on making art as an act of autonomy, care and belonging.
Follow the stages of the project here and on our social media
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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fondazionegalleriamilano
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fondazione-galleria-milano
A project by Fondazione Galleria Milano ETS, with the support of Fondazione di Comunità Milano (Call 57/2026, project code 2026.0149)
Project leads and curators: Nicola Pellegrini and Bianca Trevisan
Art therapist: Benedetta Micale
Project assistant for organisation and communication: Chiara Grandi
Project assistant for documentation, graphics and exhibition design: Lorenzo Benzoni
Press office: Maria Chiara Salvanelli Press Office & Communication
Publisher: Kunstverein Milano
Project design, management and evaluation: Tandem Progetti
Artists’ instructions by (list being updated): Alterazioni Video, Aurelio Andrighetto, Riccardo Arena, Giovanni Bai / MuseoTeo, Marina Ballo Charmet, Dario Bellini, Ilaria Biotti, Anna Valeria Borsari, Angelo Candiano, Claudio Cantelmi, Andrea Caretto, Letizia Cariello, Pablo Chiereghin, Manuela Cirino, Elena Cologni, Daniela Comani, Ermanno Cristini, Massimo De Caria, Iginio De Luca, Martina Della Valle, Paola Di Bello, Salvatore Falci, Emilio Fantin, Giovanni Ferrario, Pierluigi Fresia, Gianni Gangai, Eugenio Giliberti, Meri Gorni, Alice Guareschi, Nazzareno Guglielmi, Marianne Heier, Silvia Hell, Ugo La Pietra with Lucio, Alessio Larocchi, Salvatore Licitra, Deborah Ligorio, Pierpaolo Lista, Fabrizio Longo, Clara Luiselli, Coquelicot Mafille, Domenico Antonio Mancini, Elio Marchesini, Maruska Mazza, Ottonella Mocellin – Nicola Pellegrini, Albano Morandi, Giancarlo Norese, Giovanni Oberti, Antonella Ortelli, Francesco Pedrini, Chiara Pergola, Steve Piccolo, Cesare Pietroiusti, Luca Quartana, Diego Randazzo, Eva Reguzzoni, Angelo Ricciardi, Alessandro Rolandi, Sara Rossi, Luca Scarabelli, Lorenzo Scotto di Luzio, Carola Spadoni, Ivana Spinelli, Marco Strappato, Patrick Tabarelli, Adriana Torregrossa, Enzo Umbaca, Marco Vaglieri, Luisa Valentini, VedovaMazzei, Serena Vestrucci, Luca Vitone, Elisa Vladilo, Francesco Voltolina, Wurmkos (Pasquale Campanella).
Organisations involved: ITSOS Albe Steiner, WeWorld (Spazio Donna), L’abilità ETS, Fondazione Progetto Mirasole Impresa Sociale, Associazione Consorzio Cantiere Cuccagna – Impresa Sociale.