Final Exhibition of the School-Work Training Program (FSL)
Developed by Class 3D of IIS Albe e Lica Steiner in collaboration with Fondazione Galleria Milano ETS
Opening: Thursday, June 4, 2026
Venue: IIS Albe e Lica Steiner, Via San Dionigi 36, Milan
The exhibition Autoprogettazione (Self-Design) is the outcome of a School-Work Training Program involving the students of Class 3D at IIS Albe e Lica Steiner in Milan, carried out in collaboration with Fondazione Galleria Milano ETS.
The Foundation is located at Via Arcivescovo Romilli 7, in the Corvetto district of Milan, and preserves the archive of over fifty years of activity of Galleria Milano. It promotes new artistic research with a specific commitment to engaging with the local area and the communities that inhabit it.
The project takes its name and inspiration from Proposta per un’autoprogettazione (Proposal for Self-Design), the renowned publication by designer Enzo Mari, released in conjunction with the exhibition of the same name at Galleria Milano in April 1974. In this work, Mari provided the public with instructions for independently building furniture using simple materials and no specialized skills—a radical gesture aimed at democratizing both design and the creative act.
In 2020, during the first lockdown, Galleria Milano revisited this gesture by involving more than one hundred Italian and international artists in the project Autoprogettazione, inviting them to create instructions for producing artworks at home using basic materials and accessible means. The project received the approval of Enzo Mari, Lea Vergine, and the designer’s archive.
Five years later, Fondazione Galleria Milano invited the students of IIS Albe e Lica Steiner to take up this legacy and reactivate it firsthand through an experimental program combining art history, creative practice, and collective reflection. Students were asked to create, document, and publicly present a self-design process in dialogue with professionals from the contemporary art world.
Over the course of 30 hours of activities, including meetings at the Foundation and workshop sessions at school, students explored the history of Galleria Milano (1964–2022) and the Foundation, the role of Enzo Mari within the Milanese cultural context of the 1960s and 1970s, artistic communication practices, and the direct production of artworks inspired by the instructions of the original artists.
The project was conceived and curated by Nicola Pellegrini, artist and President of Fondazione Galleria Milano, and Bianca Trevisan, Director of the Foundation. It also benefited from the collaboration of Maria Chiara Salvanelli, communication expert and founder of Maria Chiara Salvanelli Press Office & Communication in Milan, and Benedetta Micale, art therapist. Students were also granted access to materials preserved in the Foundation’s archive in order to reconstruct the history of the original project.
Guided by professionals and faculty members, the students reinterpreted several of the original Autoprogettazioneinstructions, creating their own works: collages, objects made from everyday materials, magazines, and other accessible elements. The creative process was documented as it unfolded, becoming an integral part of the project itself. The making of these works provided students with an opportunity to reflect on personal experiences, group dynamics, and interpersonal relationships, intertwining artistic practice with a broader dimension of collective growth.
The exhibition opening on June 4, 2026 presents the results of this work: the artworks created by the students, documentation of the making-of process, materials produced throughout the program, and the posters designed by the class to present this edition of Autoprogettazione.
Fondazione Galleria Milano is a non-profit third-sector organization established in 2024 with a dual mission: on the one hand, to preserve and enhance the artistic and cultural heritage of the historic Galleria Milano (1964–2022), one of the most significant institutions in both the Italian and international art scene; on the other, to promote contemporary national and international research through exhibitions, performances, public programs, educational activities, and training initiatives.
The Foundation aims to serve as a point of reference for cultural production and research. Its connection with the city of Milan and its surrounding area remains central, fostering constructive dialogue with institutions through collaboration with museums, cultural organizations, universities, and academies of fine arts. Fondazione Galleria Milano is a private non-profit institution that positions itself as a catalyst for cultural initiatives, striving to offer an inclusive cultural program.
A project by Fondazione Galleria Milano in collaboration with IIS Albe e Lica Steiner
Curated by:
Nicola Pellegrini and Bianca Trevisan, Fondazione Galleria Milano
Guest Speakers:
Maria Chiara Salvanelli and Benedetta Micale
Participating Students:
Paolo Acunzo, Viola Barlotti, Bren Jon Carpio, Samuele Chessa, Luca Del Mancino, Insaf Elhilali, Matilde Fasolo, Pietro Giardina, Jiani Hu, Aeson Kyne Lara, Rayan Ivan Magni, Elena Rosa Marsano, Linda Andrea Palumbo, Luis Calvin Ramos, Aurora Ida Ravizza, Alice Tamburello, Daniele Tornese, Daniel Vincenzo Veneziano, Martino David Zerbi
Teachers Collaborating on the Project:
Prof. Erika Guidotti, Lorenza Olive, Domenico Damato, Silvia Mercalli, Giada Chioso
Internship:
Chiara Grandi, Fondazione Galleria Milano
Fondazione Galleria Milano ETS
Via Arcivescovo Romilli 7, 20139 Milan, Italy
www.fondazionegalleriamilano.it
IIS Albe e Lica Steiner
Via San Dionigi 36, Milan, Italy
Special thanks to the heirs of Enzo Mari and the Enzo Mari Archive for their support.