April 9–November 1, 2015
La Triennale di Milano
Viale Alemagna 6
20121 Milan
Italy
www.expo2015.org
www.triennale.org
Curated by Germano Celant
Ever since its beginning in 1851, the Universal Exposition has paid particular attention to art. Interest in cultural, artistic and educational aspects has continued to grow over the years, and Expo Milano 2015 has decided to devote one of its pavilions to a large and important exhibition inspired by the theme of the event: “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.” The project has become Arts & Foods. Rituals since 1851, a major exhibition curated by Germano Celant that sets out to investigate the relationship between the arts and different rituals associated with food around the world: an historical view of the aesthetic and functional influence eating has exerted on the languages of creativity; an exploration of the way in which art in all its forms has dealt with the themes of nourishment. The exhibition, in which the display of the works has been designed by Italo Rota, with the support of Irma Boom for the graphic design, will open on April 9 and will last until November 1 in the spaces of the Triennale di Milano and its garden, the historic building designed by Giovanni Muzio in the early 1930s.
Arts & Foods will extend to cover roughly 7,000 square meters in order to present a wide variety of visual and sculptural languages, as well as objects and settings, that have revolved around food and feasting from 1851 to the present day in; and to do so in the most complete way possible. It is a panoramic view of the way aesthetics and design are intertwined with the ritual of eating in an exhibition that is made up not just of artworks, but also of installations and aural, olfactory and cinematic experiences, offering visitors a sample of the diverse forms of creativity that have developed across diverse cultures. The exhibition tackles innumerable subjects related to food, its preparation, its distribution and its sharing, in both private and public spheres, from a perspective that is at once chronological and thematic. It develops these themes through the reconstruction of more than 15 settings and rooms connected with the cooking and consumption of food—from the dining room to the kitchen including bar and picnic—in which, furniture, objects, sculptures, electric appliances, photographs, documents, film clips, TV programs, advertising posters, clothes, toys, album covers, publications on gastronomical subjects and menus tell a story of great visual impact, with over 2,000 works on loan from museums, public and private foundations, collectors and artists from all over the world. In a sensory dimension broadened by the presence of music recordings and aroma, points for the screening of excerpts from movies and TV programs, literary quotations and over 40 showcases along the route in which important collections of objects and documents are displayed, Arts & Foods proposes a journey in time that develops the theme of Expo Milano 2015 creatively.
The project will also be enriched by a number of installations and works created by contemporary artists specifically for the spaces inside and outside the Triennale.
Another strongpoint of the exhibition is the section devoted exclusively to children and teenagers, who will be able to take a tour “off-limits for grownups.” The tour is designed to offer maximum safety for its visitors, allowing them to explore relationships between the arts and food through toys, animations, costumes and artworks created especially for the world of childhood. It will include 93 paintings by Andy Warho whichl he especially created for the very young.
As part of Arts & Foods, the publishing house Electa will produce a substantial, roughly 900-page volume in two editions (Italian and English). The aim is to propose a “recipe book” containing more than 50 essays on the topics of the exhibition and hundreds of illustrations. It is a critical and varied collection of international contributions from specialists in each sector, museum curators and collectors.
