“Paraventi: Folding Screens from the 17th to 21st Centuries” is an extensive exhibition curated by Nicholas Cullinan that investigates the histories and semantics of folding screens by tracing trajectories of cross-pollination between East and West, processes of hybridization between different art forms and functions, collaborative relationships between designers and artists, and the emergence of newly created works.
As explained by Nicholas Cullinan, “Painting or sculpture? Art or furniture? Utilitarian or ornamental? Decorative, functional, architectural or theatrical? This innovative exhibition examines the many questions and paradoxes surrounding the unfolding history of the paravent. This history of the folding screen is one of cultural migration (from East to West), hybridisation and of what is concealed and revealed. As we shall explore, this history, and especially the way it manifests in the present, is one of liminal objects and of liminality itself; in the process collapsing the rigid distinctions and hierarchies between the different disciplines of art and architecture, decoration and design.”
The exhibition design created for the Podium building by SANAA, gathers more than seventy folding screens, including valuable historical objects and more recent works on loan from international museums and private collections, and a selection of new creations commissioned from more than fifteen international artists specifically for this project.
On the Podium’s ground floor, curved transparent Plexiglas partitions alternating with sinuous curtains simulate the shapes of these objects. They create a series of spaces with different light atmospheres, in which visitors are confronted with each thematic group and connected in continuity in a fluid path, throughout the transparency of the partitions. On the upper floor, the single exhibition space represents the overall history of the screens, which are arranged in chronological order on shaped pedestals, that emphasize the typical paravents shape, in a nod to innovative museological displays such as Lina Bo Bardi’s MASP in São Paulo and indeed SANAA’s work for Louvre-Lens.
| Hours | 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM, closed Tuesdays |
| Venue | Fondazione Prada |
| Type | Design Exhibition |
| Duration | 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM |
| City | Milan |
About
Fondazione Prada
Since 1993 Fondazione Prada’s activities have analyzed intentions and relevance through an evolution of projects. These have included ‘Utopian’ monographic artist commissions, contemporary philosophy conferences, research exhibitions and initiatives related to the field of cinema. Being active in three permanent venues in Milan and Venice, inaugurated between 2011 and 2016, and, as of 2018, also in three external spaces in Shanghai, Tokyo and New York, Fondazione Prada offers new opportunities to expand and enrich our learning processes. ‘What is a cultural institution for?’ This is the central question of today. We embrace the idea that culture is deeply useful and necessary as well as attractive and engaging. Culture should help us with our everyday lives and understand how we, and the world, are changing. This assumption is key for Fondazione’s activities. Our main interest are ideas, and the ways in which mankind has transformed ideas into specific disciplines and cultural products: literature, cinema, music, philosophy, art and science. Each field is afforded its autonomy, but all have the same overall aim: expanding the range of knowledge. They co-exist with one another, leading to unpredictable resonances and cultural intersections. An attitude of openness and invitation characterizes the political mood of Fondazione Prada. We assert the possibility of participation at all levels for all generations. We try to find new ways to share ideas. Attempts to redefine education programs will go alongside a strong commitment to scientific dissemination. Another possible question is how a contemporary art institution can engage with the cinema without becoming a film festival. Arts and cultural expressions are Fondazione’s given instruments of working and learning. A territory of freethinking in which established, indelible figures – as well as emerging approaches – are welcomed. Culture is conceived as a resource of perspectives and of potential energy. We invite different kinds of people to provide new interpretations of undetected ideas: curators, artists, and architects but also scientists and students, thinkers and writers. This emphasis on range and repertoire of knowledge is reflected explicitly in the spatial composition of Milan’s premises of Fondazione Prada in Milan. Formerly a distillery dating back to the 1910s, its transformation led to an architectural configuration that combines preexisting buildings with three new structures. The result is a campus of post-industrial and new spaces, alternately intimate and expansive, while the courtyards provide a common public ground, open to the city. This rich spatial array encourages quick and improvised reactions to cultural stimuli. Fondazione’s institutional structure embodies the overall aim towards reinvention. It is an open structure where ideas are freely exchanged between the President and Director Miuccia Prada, the Steering Committee and the internal departments. These and other contributions and voices bring to the process their own unique views on the present moment. Photo Bas Princen. Courtesy Fondazione Prada
