TWISTER







1 october 2009 h 11.00

Opening  Press Conference

Fondazione Stelline / Sala Bramante – Corso Magenta, 61 - Milan



3 -  4 october 2009

Opening coordinated in ten locations



The network of Lombard Contemporary Art Museums launches

its first important initiative



11 works selected for showing in October and acquired by the Museums



This is an important date for the Network of Lombard Contemporary Art  
Museums.

Today we are presenting the TWISTER project, an innovative model of a  
virtuous alliance

between ten of the Region’s museums, founded with the purpose of  
selecting,

exhibiting and acquiring contemporary site-specific / siterelated  
artworks, specially

designed and produced for the occasion by means of an international  
competition.

The protagonists . Ten Contemporary Art Museums in Lombardy: The  
Civici Musei di

Milano with the Museo del Novecento, the FAI with the Villa Panza and  
its Collection, the

Fondazione Stelline of Milan, the Galleria del Premio Suzzara (MN),  
the GAM Civica

Galleria d’Arte Moderna of Gallarate (VA), the GAMec Galleria  
d’Arte Moderna e

Contemporanea of Bergamo, the MAM Museo d’Arte Moderna e  
Contemporanea of

Gazoldo degli Ippoliti (MN), the Museo Civico Floriano Bodini of  
Gemonio (VA), the Museo

d’arte contemporanea of Lissone (MB) and the Premio Nazionale Arti  
Visive Città di

Gallarate (VA) have created an operative network of encounter and  
collaboration

to enhance their actual holdings, support young artists and foster a  
knowledge

iof contemporary art among the general public.

The Lombardy Region. The Office of Cultures, Identity and Autonomies  
of the

Lombardy Region immediately expressed strong support for the project  
to create a

network of active collaboration between the ten art institutions,  
which to date have

worked extremely well with an individual program, respectful of the  
identity of each. And

thanks to the regional law of 29 April 1995 no. 35 titled "Projects of  
the Lombardy

Region for the promotion, coordination and development of integrated  
systems of cultural

assets and services" it offered the museum network the concrete  
possibility of

acquiring contemporary artworks for their permanent collections, so  
increasing

the public holdings of artworks and giving the regional territory an  
image of considerable

dynamism and contemporary relevance.

This major legislative opportunity, together with the active support  
of the Lombardy

Region and the contribution the Fondazione Cariplo, then gave rise to  
the TWISTER

project: the network of ten museums launched an important international

competition by invitation structured as two different phases of  
selection: Phase I

entailed close examination of the curricula and repertory of works  
presented by the

artists, while Phase II involved appraisal of their actual preliminary  
projects.

The artists involved were asked to design works specially planned for  
each of ten art

institutions or in relation to them, neither invasive nor monumental,  
produced to remain

in their permanent collections. The spaces available for the art  
projects are not the

exhibition rooms, but the museum premises in a broad sense, both  
indoor and outdoor,

with a particular concern for the museums’ grounds and the  
surrounding urban and

territorial fabric.

Demonstrating TWISTER’s strong orientation towards a real  
international perspective,

the network of museums sought and obtained the collaboration, as  
advisors, of ten

contemporary art curators and critics working with major European  
institutions. They

are: Chiara Bertola (curator Premio Furla, Fondazione Querini  
Stampali, Venice,

recently appointed artistic director of Hangar Bicocca); Andrea  
Bruciati (director of the

Galleria Comunale d’Arte Contemporanea of Monfalcone); Adam Budak  
(curator of

Manifesta 2008, director of the Graz Kunsthaus): Anna Daneri (curator  
of the

Fondazione Ratti, Como); Mario Gorni (director of CAREOF/DOCVA);  
Alexandre Gurita

(director of the Biennale de Paris, Paris); Micaela Martegani  
(director of MORE ART,

New York); Enrico Mascelloni (curator and contemporary art critic;  
consultant to the

Haggerty Museum in Milwakee, USA and the Musée des Beaux Arts, Rouen);  
Novembre

Paynter (curator of the Istanbul Biennial 2007 and curator at the Tate  
Modern, London);

Roberto Pinto (critic and lecturer at the Accademia di Brera and the  
Università di

Trento)

The advisors joined the Panel of Judges consisting of the ten  
directors of the

institutions involved: Daniele Astrologo Abadal, Director of the Museo  
Civico Floriano

Bodini, Gemonio (VA); Anna Bernardini, Director of the FAI-Villa e  
Collezione Panza,

Varese (VA); Luigi Cavadini, Director of the Museo d’Arte  
Contemporanea, Lissone

(MI); Camillo Fornasieri, President of the Fondazione Stelline, Milano  
(MI); Marina

Pugliese, Project Manager Museo del Novecento, Milano (MI); Irene  
Nicolis, Director of

the Galleria del Premio Suzzara, Suzzara (MN) or Marco Panizza,  
conservator; Antonio

Pecchini, Representing the Premio Nazionale Arti Visive Città di  
Gallarate (VA); Maria

Cristina Rodeschini, Director of the Istituto GAMeC - Galleria d’Arte  
Moderna e

Contemporanea di Bergamo (BG); Nanni Rossi, Presidente MAM - Museo  
d’Arte Moderna

e Contemporanea, Gazoldo degli Ippoliti (MN); Emma Zanella, director  
of the Civica

Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Gallarate, which acted as the project  
leader, while the

Fondazione Stelline is providing the organization and coordination  
offices in collaboration

with the Premio Gallarate.

The following also contributed to the work of the Panel of Judges:  
Serhan Ada (Steering

Committee Santralistanbul Contemporary Art Museum and Istanbul  
European Cultural

Capital 2010); Rachele Ferrario (art critic and lecturer at the  
Accademia di Brera);

Alberto Fiz (art critic, curator and journalist) and Riccardo Passoni  
(Assistant Director

Fondazione Torino Musei, Amaci).

The first selection of sixty artists (both individuals and groups) was  
winnowed to

present a short list of twenty names: Mario Airò, Margarita Andreu,  
Massimo Bartolini,

Carlo Bernardini, Michael Beutler, Enrica Borghi, Loris Cecchini,  
Madame Duplok, Chiara

Dynys, Lara Favaretto, Flavio Favelli, Alice Guareschi, Lang/Baumann,  
Maik and Dirk

Lobbert, Marcello Maloberti, Marzia Migliora, Ottonella Mocellin and  
Nicola Pellegrini,

Riccardo Previdi, Emilia Sharfe and Patrick Tuttofuoco.

The final selection on 6 and 7 April produced the ten selected  
artists, whose work will

be produced and acquired:



Mario Airò, Massimo Bartolini, Carlo Bernardini, Loris

Cecchini, Madame Duplok, Chiara Dynys, Lara Favaretto, Maik and Dirk  
Löbbert,

Marzia Migliora, Ottonella Mocellin and Nicola Pellegrini.



The competition further entails the production of a network art  
project, which will

involve the ten museums/institutions of the regional network in order  
to reveal both the

uniqueness and the cohesion of the TWISTER project and the specific  
features of each

art institution, enhancing the visibility of the network devoted to  
contemporary

art in Lombardy. For this project four artists were short-listed: Ofri  
Cnaani, Matteo

Rubbi, Luca Trevisani and Enzo Umbaca. The winner of the competition  
was Ofri Cnaani.

The eleven projects selected will be exhibited and inaugurated  
simultaneously on the

premises of each of the museums taking part, and will be featured in a  
single major

exhibition, to be presented in a press conference on Thursday 1st  
October, and to

be inaugurated on the premises of the member institutions during the  
weekend of

Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th October 2009.

There was an outstanding community of purposes uniting the project’s  
member

institutions. In this case it overcame the campanilismi between cities  
which is widespread

in Italy, in favour of an important shared project, together with the  
strong support

provided by the Lombardy Region and the contribution from a private  
partner in the

Fondazione Cariplo, making it possible to realize the TWISTER project  
with its farreaching

cultural and social values. It has attained a threefold objective: to  
enrich the

individual museums with significant contemporary artworks, to promote  
and support the

work of the artists, outside the logic of the art market, and to  
favour an appreciation of

contemporary art by the general public.



Press Office TWISTER. Network of Lombardy Museums for contemporary art:

Lucia Crespi, ph. 0039 02 89415532 - 0039 02 89401645, lucia@luciacrespi.it



Press Office Lombardy Region:

Ufficio Stampa Regione Lombardia:

Massimiliano Rigano, ph. 0039 02 6765.2117 - 0039 02 6765.2374;

massimiliano_rigano@regione.lombardia.it



info@twisterartecontemporanea.com



     * Civici Musei – Museo del Novecento, Milano (MI)

     * FAI – Villa e Collezione Panza, Varese (VA)

     * Fondazione Stelline, Milano (MI)

     * GAM Civica Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Gallarate (VA)

     * GAMeC Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo (BG)

     * MAM Museo d’Arte Modernae Contemporanea, Gazzoldo degli  
Ippoliti (MN)

     * Museo Civico Floriano Bodini, Gemonio (VA)

     * Museo d’arte contemporanea, Lissone (MI)

     * Premio Nazionale Arti Visive Città di Gallarate, Gallarate (VA)





Capofila di progetto



     * GAM Civica Galleria d’Arte Moderna

       Viale Milano 21 | 21013 Gallarate (VA)

       Tel. +39 0331 791 266



Segreteria organizzativa



     * Fondazione Stelline

       Corso Magenta 61 | 20123 Milano (MI)

       Tel. +39 02 45 462 437/431




Press Release



GAM Gallarate

The Group Show

Mario Airò, Massimo Bartolini, Carlo Bernardini, Loris Cecchini, Ofri  
Cnaani, Mme Duplok, Chiara Dynys, Lara Favaretto, Maik e Dirk Löbbert,  
Marzia Migliora, Ottonella Mocellin e Nicola Pellegrini

by Emma Zanella

3 october 2009 – 31 genuary 2010




♦ Opening 19.00  GAM – v.le Milano 21, Gallarate (VA)

The Group Show.

Mario Airò, Massimo Bartolini, Carlo Bernardini, Loris Cecchini, Ofri  
Cnaani, Mme Duplok, Chiara

Dynys, Lara Favaretto, Maik e Dirk Löbbert, Marzia Migliora, Ottonella  
Mocellin e Nicola Pellegrini.



Info

sede storica GAM – Civica Galleria d’Arte Moderna

viale Milano 21

21013 Gallarate VA

tel: 0331.791266

e-mail: eventi@gam.gallarate.va.it

sito web: www.gam.gallarate.va.it

nuova GAM – Civica Galleria d’Arte Moderna

via de Magri

21013 Gallarate VA

tel: 0331.791266

e-mail: eventi@gam.gallarate.va.it

sito web: www.gam.gallarate.va.it

Ingresso gratuito

PER INFORMAZIONI ALLA STAMPA

Ufficio Stampa Twister. Rete Musei Lombardia per l’Arte Contemporanea

Lucia Crespi, tel. 02.89415532-02.89401645, lucia@luciacrespi.it

Per The Group Show e la performance L’Idioma di Modesto

Giulia Airoldi e Patrizia Pastorelli - Relazioni esterne per la GAM

eventi@gam.gallarate.va.it - 0331.791266

Stefano Tosi - Ufficio Stampa Comune di Gallarate stefanotosi@comune.gallarate.va.it 
  - 0331.754440