Fondazione Augusto Rancilio hosts - in its role as promoter and producer of cultural activities - contemporary art exhibitions that can be visited in conjunction with the openings to the public, to tell and enhance the regeneration project of Villa Arconati-FAR in its territory. 

Oltrereale is the first photographic exhibition hosted in the exhibition wing of Villa Arconati FAR. This year, the Augusto Rancilio Foundation wants to take its visitors on a journey to discover the mountains captured by the mastery of Marco D'Anna. A path of 34 photographs that present the Swiss peaks of Engadine rediscovered during the pandemic. A place dear not only to the photographer but also to the divisionist master Giovanni Segantini (1858-1899), whom D'Anna draws inspiration from for the reproduction technique. Digital images are overlaid, creating new realities in which each of us will find their ideal place, the peak of memory.

Marco D'Anna presents a polyhedral image of the mountain, as bright and enchanting as it is hostile and treacherous. He accompanies the viewer on a visual and emotional journey from light to shadow, through imaginary scenarios taken from reality, the fruit of the photographer's ingenuity and creativity, who managed to capture the strength and energy of nature.

Born in 1964, Marco D'Anna started his career as a photojournalist in Lugano at a very young age. He obtained the Federal Diploma in photography in 1984 and subsequently trained under important photographers, including Gabriele Basilico, René Burri, Gianni Berengo Gardin, René Groebli, and Mario De Biasi. In 1986 he opened his studio in Lugano and undertook various collaborations in different fields, such as with Mario Botta in architecture and Franco Maria Ricci for the reproduction of art objects.

From 2004 to 2018, he traveled the world with writer Marco Steiner, visiting the places that inspired Hugo Pratt for the settings of the Corto Maltese saga.

In 2011, at the Locarno Film Festival, the world premiere of Projet corrida, his first work of video and photography, was held, created together with Swiss photographer René Burri of the prestigious Magnum agency.

Between 2011 and 2013, Projet Corrida was presented in various contexts, including Cult TV (RSI); Swiss Cultural Center in Paris; Solothurn Film Festival (Switzerland); Festival International du Film sur l'Art (FIFA), Montreal; Nuit des images, Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne; Musée des Suisses dans le Monde, Geneva; Donetta Foundation, Corzoneso (Switzerland).

Between 2013 and 2014, he developed the photographic project entitled "At the Roots of Agri-food Innovation," commissioned by the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAE) as the official image of Switzerland for Expo 2015 in Milan.
In 2018, he won the prestigious King of Photography award and participated in the exhibition "The Power of the Image" as part of the International Photography Culture Exhibition in Datong, China.
He lives and works in Lugano.

For more Information: https://www.marcodanna.ch/  

OLTREREALE, The Imagined Reality. Fragments of Infinitely Mutable Memory
April - October 2023

Open every Sunday
Included in the entrance ticket to the Villa.

On the Edge of time is the largest monographic exhibition by the artist Angela Lyn: the exhibition takes the viewer on a journey through twenty-five rooms of the Villa, exploring issues of identity, gender and culture in their relationship with time and space. Angela Lyn creates a poetic reconstruction of historical and personal narratives, finely dismantling our linear perceptions of time and place.
In a personal and intimate journey, On the Edge of Time brings together Angela Lyn's artistic journeys, the episodes of her life and the historical emanations of the Villa in a persistent moment that invites viewers to interact with her work and connect with their own memories and experiences.
The exhibition brings together for the first time over one hundred and fifty original works, which include paintings, drawings, sculptures, installations, texts and video works. The exhibition offers a comprehensive insight into Angela Lyn's artistic language, creating a harmonious synergy with the consummate opulence of Baroque architecture. 

The Artist
Angela Lyn was born to a Chinese father and an English mother and grew up in the UK and the US. At the age of seventeen she went to Taiwan to research her Chinese roots. After studying fine arts in London, she moved to Switzerland and since 1994 she has lived in Lugano. She is married and mother of three children.

Li Zhenhua is the curator of the exhibition. He resides in Zurich, Berlin and Beijing and is widely known for his curatorial work for Art Basel Hong Kong and for major exhibitions in museums such as K11 and Shanghai's Minsheng Art Museum. In Europe, he curated China, China, China! - an exhibition at the Palazzo Strozzi Foundation in Florence. The collaboration with Angela Lyn is based on their common investigation of intercultural experience. 

Linkto >> Angela Lyn website
Teaser of the short film directed by Michael Schindhelm.
Yawen Yeo camera and editing. Post-production Stefano Cravero. Text and voice Angela Lyn

Fondazione Augusto Rancilio is committed to enhancing the area north-west of Milan, integrating art and culture, agriculture, leisure time, social innovation, new urban planning and housing in its offer.

A different point of view on the 17 United Nations Goals associated with the sustainability agenda, through seminars and art, conferences and shows, to bring together in one place the experience of the relationship between nature and culture mediated by training.

2030 Agenda: learn more
The UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development is an action programme for people, the planet and prosperity, signed on 25 September 2015 by the governments of the 193 Member Countries of the United Nations, and approved by the UN General Assembly. It includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals – Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs – that refer to a set of important development issues that take account of the three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, social and ecological – in a balanced way and aim to end poverty, fight against inequality, tackle climate change, and build peaceful societies that respect human rights.

What are the 17 Goals?

• Goal 1: No poverty
• Goal 2: Zero hunger
• Goal 3: Good health and well-being
• Goal 4: Quality education
• Goal 5: Gender equality
• Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation
• Goal 7:  Affordable and clean energy
• Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth
• Goal 9:  Industry, innovation and infrastructure
• Goal 10: Reduced inequalities
• Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities
• Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production
• Goal 13: Climate action
• Goal 14: Life below water
• Goal 15: Life on Land
• Goal 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions
• Goal 17: Partnerships for the goals 

Why at Villa Arconati-FAR?
A villa, a park, where Leonardo's Atlantic Code was kept, where the oldest Roman statue of the empire is located, will become - surrounded by nature and silence - the largest cultural hub on sustainability.
There is no place more representative than Villa Arconati-FAR with its 200 hectares of park and the architectural spaces of the 17th century. 

What is our role?
Among the actions envisaged there is no word culture. There is the one about education. Hence the need to interpret and represent all the objectives of the 2030 agenda with cultural actions. An agenda that must be read first and then narrated, emotionally, scientifically.
The project of the Fondazione Augusto Rancilio together with the Artistic Direction of Massimiliano Finazzer Flory and the important contribution of the University of Milan is just that: to stage the Agenda 2030 between History and Nature in a place capable of representing a connection between minds to build the future. This was the motto of the expo in Dubai which is about to close. And we reopen.
At Villa Arconati FAR therefore a different expo of events on sustainability issues, between opportunities and mobility. Ideas. 

The method and competences of the University of Milan
Each of the 17 meetings will be held by professors and experts from the University, who have welcomed and nurtured this project with passion and dedication.
We especially thank the Rector prof. Elio Franzini, Prof. Marina Carini Vice Rector for the Third Mission of the University of Milan and the professors Adani Fabrizio, Arconzo Giuseppe, Baldi Antonella, Biondi Francesca, Bocchi Stefano, Checchi Daniele, Chiesi Antonio, D’Amico Marilisa, Damiani Ernesto, Del Borgo Alice, Delle Fave Antonella, Fico Gelsomina, Gandini Alessandro, Inghilleri Paolo, Lucini Daniela, Mattei Paola, Maugeri Maurizio, Murgia Annalisa, Pilotti Luciano, Pitea Cesare, Raviglione Mario, Sali Guido, Simonetta Stefano, Sugni Michela, Viarengo Ilaria, Zanon Niccolò.

The artistic project
We will combine the skills of the professors with theater, cinema, literature, contemporary art, to stage our always unsatisfied need to know.
After all, Villa Arconati-FAR derives its name from Count Galeazzo Arconati, owner and donor of Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Atlanticus. Leonardo will therefore once again be the reference model of our project: he, the first eco-designer in history. 
This is our project: open to the networks of creativity, starting with training. However, we are convinced that art can still teach us to be amazed, intrigued, to pay attention to detail, to seek beauty in every place and time. Consequently we will need a circular culture that escapes the stupid contrast between the humanistic and scientific dimensions.
From April to December, a program that provides training and events of a different artistic genre declined on each of the 17 objectives of Agenda 2030. To make participants experience the inclusion of Nature through culture.
For sustainable development to become a system supported by education. As Leonardo would say, “all our knowledge is prone to feelings”.
Artistic director and actor: Massimiliano Finazzer Flory

Calendar of events and participation procedures
Individual events are available in the Calendar section; 2030 Agenda appointments are free admission with seat reservation on the Eventbrite portal, at this link.