Origin

Built between 1549 and 1619, the church of San Paolo Converso remained a vital place of worship in Milan for over 200 years. When it was deconsecrated by Napoleon in 1808, the church was converted into a storage facility, spending over a century cutoff from the world and forgotten. In 1932 the space was renovated into a concert hall, only to be remade once more in the 1960s as a recording studio. In 2014 Locatelli Partners rented the church for their offices, and three years later Alexander May initiated CONVERSO as an exhibition program for the front church.

Across the church’s many lives, its one of a kind frescoes by Giulio and Antonio Campi - Caravaggio’s masters - have witnessed the space converted four-times over. Today, Creative Director Alexander May oversees all of CONVERSO’s on and offsite programming, drawing inspiration from the building’s rich history and resuming its role as a home for artists of all media. In January of 2020, CONVERSO officially relaunched as Fondazione CONVERSO, certifying it as central Milan’s first non-profit space for contemporary art in all its forms.