Pirelli HangarBicocca – Milan

HangarBicocca is an exhibition space in Milan dedicated to the production, display, and promotion of contemporary art. Opened in 2004, it is housed in a former warehouse once belonging to the Ansaldo-Breda company.

The creation of HangarBicocca is part of a larger urban redevelopment plan that started in the 1980s and aimed to convert various disused industrial sites in Milan’s Bicocca district into university campuses, office buildings, and cultural venues.
In the early 2000s, real estate company Prelios (formerly known as Pirelli RE) decided to convert one of Bicocca’s abandoned industrial sites into an exhibition space for contemporary art, called HangarBicocca (now Pirelli HangarBicocca).

The HangarBicocca complex consists of three buildings. The “Shed”, a typical industrial structure made of red bricks, houses the center’s entrance lobby and visitor facilities. The “Cubo”, a former locomotive manufacturing workshop, contains the main exhibition space. The “Navate” is a monumental 30-meter-high building that permanently accommodates the sculptural installation The Seven Heavenly Palaces by Anselm Kiefer.

 HangarBicocca, exterior views, photo © Inexhibit

HangarBicocca hosts special exhibitions of the most renowned contemporary artists, with special attention to innovation and experimentation, and frequently includes site-specific commissions tailored to the center’s unique architecture.

Hangar Bicocca features two permanent art installations. Outside, La Sequenza by Fausto Melotti (1981), located near the entrance, welcomes visitors as a sort of symbolic gateway between the city and the “realm” of contemporary art.
Inside, works of Anselm Kiefer include, along with the already mentioned The Seven Heavenly Palaces, five large-scale paintings installed in 2015.

The program of the HangarBicocca comprises free events and activities. HB Kids features creative workshops, films, and activities aimed at children. HB Public includes film screenings, guided tours, meeting with artists and curators, and cycling tours around the district. HB School features educational programs for schools.

 HangarBicocca, entrance lobby; photo © Inexhibit

 HangarBicocca, Anselm Kiefer, The Seven Heavenly Palaces; photos © Inexhibit

HangarBicocca, “Architecture as Art”, installation views, 2016, photos © Inexhibit

General view of the exhibition “Cildo Meireles, Installations”, HangarBicocca, March 2014; photo © Inexhibit

Below: HangarBicocca, exterior views with the sculpture “La Sequenza” by Fausto Melotti;  photos © Inexhibit.