136. The space of possibilities

Books that aren’t meant to be read, they’re meant to be encountered.

From November 11 to 15, 2026, the Bagatti Valsecchi Museum presents 136. The space of possibilities, an exhibition of artist’s books by Edizioni Palazzo Lisio: over 25 works created by contemporary artists and poets who invite visitors to look at, leaf through, touch, and listen to the volumes, lingering on the traces left by the hands of those who created them.

“I like to give wings to little stories that, otherwise, would be nothing more than pearls returning to the sea,” says Maria Luisa Domeniconi, founder of the young publishing house, describing the project’s mission.

The collection on display at the Museum, created by about fifteen artists, is only the first installment, but the project is destined to grow and culminate in 136 books. Behind the number 136 lies a reason that the founder keeps to herself: a small enigma that accompanies each new volume, like a door left ajar.

These are rare objects, some one-of-a-kind, others produced in two copies or, at most, six, written and crafted by hand. They are not books to be handled with kid gloves, but books that love to tell their own stories, because the sensory experience of reading is something that is slowly being forgotten. In the realm of the possible, we rediscover the power of a mark, the feel and weight of paper, and the sound of a word spoken aloud. Edizioni Palazzo Lisio seeks to elevate this gesture—which is always a small celebration—with rare and elegant volumes capable of making us think, smile, and marvel.

The Bagatti Valsecchi Museum welcomes this event with a natural affinity. Founded on the passion of brothers Fausto and Giuseppe Bagatti Valsecchi, the residence brings together works of art, furnishings, artifacts, and relics from the Renaissance. It is within this journey, filled with objects and details to discover and encounter room by room, that the visual horizons of Edizioni Palazzo Lisio find their place.

The connection is particularly evident in the Library, a true chamber of wonders: over 2,700 volumes from the brothers’ book collection are housed in wooden bookcases, alongside scientific instruments and decorative objects scattered across the table. The Wunderkammer extend throughout the entire house, where the collections reveal themselves in a continuous interplay of details and surprises. And then there are the words: the Latin mottos that the Bagatti Valsecchi brothers left on the walls, ceilings, and wood paneling of the rooms, chosen to complement the spaces, which find an echo in the aphorisms preserved in the books of Edizioni Palazzo Lisio.

Five days to uncover, page by page, a project that holds its own secret: over 25 books throughout the halls of the Bagatti Valsecchi Museum and 136 in total. In the books published by Edizioni Palazzo Lisio, stories take on surreal forms and give rise to encounters, virtuous networks, and hopefully beautiful memories, in which imagination is the favorite ingredient.