Trama e ordito

Textiles as an artistic language, a medium capable of telling the history of different eras, cultures, and ways of living. The exhibition dedicated to the masterpieces of contemporary art from the Canclini Collection presents works by artists who have chosen thread, weave, and color as tools for visual and conceptual exploration. From Michelangelo Pistoletto to Daniel Buren and Alighiero Boetti, including Jannis Kounellis, Andy Warhol, Christian Boltanski, Maria Lai, Yayoi Kusama, Tracey Emin, and many others, the exhibition explores different interpretations of the relationship between textiles, artistic expression, and experimentation.

The collaboration with the Bagatti Valsecchi Museum emerged naturally. The house-museum, in fact, retains a strong identity linked to textiles: precious tapestries still adorn some of the rooms today, while historical photographs document the presence of upholstery and draperies in many spaces that have since been lost. Textiles played a fundamental role in defining domestic spaces, adorning walls, covering doors, and separating the rooms of the residence.

Displayed in the Museum’s Neo-Renaissance rooms, the works from the Canclini collection thus establish a direct dialogue with this decorative tradition and with the value that the Bagatti Valsecchi brothers attributed to the applied arts and artisanal craftsmanship. Fabric becomes a symbol, a memory, and a rhythm - a visual field where gesture and material merge in harmony.

The Canclini collection stems from the vision of an entrepreneur who was able to recognize textiles as a universal language, capable of merging artisanal expertise with contemporary sensibilities, art with industry, and intuition with craftsmanship. Throughout the exhibition, contemporary works are displayed alongside the Bagatti Valsecchi collection, creating a dialogue between eras and textures, filled with echoes, contrasts, and new harmonies.

The exhibition design, specially created by DWA Design Studio, will guide visitors on a journey where the lightness of fabric becomes an opportunity to reflect on the relationship between memory, material, and creativity. The exhibition thus invites viewers to see textiles as a living art form, capable of transcending time and revealing, in every thread, the trace of creative genius.