Non ti abbandonerò mai.
Franco Mazzucchelli, Azioni/Actions 1964-1979
Museo del Novecento, Milan
8 March – 10 June 2018

The Museo del Novecento introduces Non ti abbandoneró mai, a solo exhibition devoted to Italian artist Franco Mazzucchelli. “Art embodies a social role that should never be commodified”: the exhibition endorses this fundamental concept that emerges throughout Mazzucchelli’s art exploration. On display are never before exhibited works conceived between the mid-1960’s and the end of the 1970’s. In this period, Mazzucchelli produces his famous “inflatable structures”, large PVC and polyethylene installations that are left in squares, city suburbs or open spaces, randomly abandoned to the benefit of passers-by for their unconventional use. If, on the one hand, his exploration is aimed at a pioneering exploitation of plastic materials, on the other he fits perfectly into the sociocultural framework of those years, in which artists tried to leave the museum and bring art into public spaces. Mazzucchelli’s works are often placed with no prior notice or permit in these ‘anonymous’ spaces, which then take on a new meaning thanks to his art. The work of art, and its function or destiny, is thus interpreted by the public that experiences new interactions and appropriations. For the first time, a selection of multimedia compositions developed from installations conceived in the same period is on view, where the artist assembles and re-elaborates documentary photographs of his works along with fragments of installations that have survived over time. The exhibition path, enriched with video footages, is a meaningful tribute to the artist, as well as a testament to his social and cultural commitment in a country undergoing remarkable change.

Installation views. Photographs by Flavia Faranda.