Rebecca
February 12–July 19, 2026
Milan 20126
Italy
Hours: Thursday–Sunday 10:30am–8:30pm
From February 12 to July 19, 2026, Pirelli HangarBicocca present Rebecca, the first solo exhibition by Benni Bosetto in a museum. Conceived as an environment to be inhabited, the works transform the museum into a domestic and imaginative space, where lightness, rest, and pleasure take on a critical dimension. The exhibition unfolds as a “sensorial manifesto” reflecting on some of the most urgent tensions of the present—between freedom and control, self-determination and constraint, productivity and desire—affirming daydreaming as a form of resistance.
Benni Bosetto (born in Merate in 1987; currently lives and works in Milan) explores the human experience and questions of identity through drawing, sculpture, installation, and performance, focusing on the physicality of bodies. Understood as an active tool for relating to the world, the body is central to her practice. Bosetto manipulates, edits, and layers sources ranging from literature and anthropology to popular culture, cinema, psychoanalysis, and art to create surreal, dreamlike representations.
The exhibition project in Pirelli HangarBicocca, curated by Fiammetta Griccioli, transforms the Shed space by evoking a domestic and welcoming environment, where rooms, walls, and surfaces seem to come alive, giving the space a private and inhabited dimension. It is both a place and a statement: at an historical moment when everything is dominated by production speed, Bosetto invites us to reclaim our subjective time, a time for dreaming, resting, and regaining our imagination. The show becomes at once an intimate place and a political act.
The title refers to the Gothic novel of the same name by Daphne du Maurier (1907–1989), in which the young protagonist goes to live in a grand house and experiences the oppressive presence of its previous occupant, Rebecca. The house in the novel, just like the display at Pirelli HangarBicocca, becomes a true architectural female body, a living organism.
At the entrance La bocca (the mouth, 2022), which consists of iridescent, scaly fabric with a large, circular eye applied to it, guides visitors into the exhibition. Le cellule (the cells, 2026), made of hundreds of strips of hand-drawn wallpaper by Bosetto, covers the perimeter of the entire exhibition space and transforms the museum's architecture into a living surface.
The monumental intervention is divided into three distinct, interconnected rooms, each named after different parts of the body: the cheek, the belly, and the heart. Inside, works created specifically for the exhibition will be displayed alongside past installations and performances that explore memory and ritual, love and care, constraint and freedom.
The right aisle, titled “la guancia” (the cheek), evokes a soft, inviting environment and explores a reflection on decoration and ornamentation and on their ability to establish an emotional relationship with inhabited spaces. Central to this section is the work that gives it its name: La guancia (2026), conceived as a space dedicated to rest, contemplation, and "daydreaming" as a collective gesture.
The central nave host “la pancia” (the belly), a space conceived for metamorphosis and transformation, connected to instinct and impulse. The new series Le porte (the doors, 2026) includes nine works created specifically for this exhibition and arranged horizontally on the floor as containers that hold artworks, characters, and environments recreated by Bosetto. The space also includes Gli occhi (the eyes, 2026), the "guardians" of the house: two rolled-up lace curtains from which two pairs of terracotta shoes poke out.
Finally, the left aisle will represent “il cuore” (the heart), the beating nucleus of the exhibition. This room is dedicated to emotional impulses such as love, and infatuation. Inside, visitors will experience the performance and installation Tango (II version) (2026). Inspired by tango and the traditional milonga setting, the performance will feature amateur dancers wearing headdresses that resemble animals and plants, creating an interspecies choreography.
Public program
Friday, March 13, 2026: Gothic Cinema Night.
Saturday, April 18, 2026: Program of performances by Benni Bosetto in the exhibition space.
Thursday, June 4, 2026: Readings and activations in the show.
Catalog
Marsilio Arte will publish a monographic catalog devoted to Benni Bosetto, exploring recurring themes in her research. The volume will feature an essay by curator Milovan Farronato on the artist’s theoretical references and imagery, and a text by curator Caterina Molteni on Bosetto's artistic evolution from her beginnings to the present. A selection of Bosetto's images, drawings, and archival materials will accompany thematic contributions by international scholars and critics such as art historian Chus Martínez, curator Marianna Vecellio, writer Giulia Civardi, and curator Evelyn Simons focusing on the displayed works. A conversation between curator Fiammetta Griccioli and the artist will present the Pirelli HangarBicocca exhibition project, enhanced by extensive photographic documentation.
Pirelli HangarBicocca
Pirelli HangarBicocca is a non-profit foundation dedicated to producing and promoting contemporary art. It was conceived and is supported by Pirelli. Established in 2004, Pirelli HangarBicocca has become a benchmark institution for the international and local art community. The museum is free of charge, accessible and open, as well as a place for experimentation, research and dissemination. It presents a programme of major solo exhibitions, multi-disciplinary events, publications, and educational courses.Vicente Todolí has been the foundation’s artistic director since 2012.
Situated in a former industrial building, once a locomotive manufacturing facility, Pirelli HangarBicocca occupies 15,000 square metres, making it one of the largest single-level exhibition spaces in Europe. This vast area comprises the permanent installation of Anselm Kiefer’s The Seven Heavenly Palaces 2004-2015.
