Fondazione Converso pursues new models of exhibition,
pushing the boundaries of where art is seen
Housed in the 16th-century San Paolo Converso church in central Milan, Fondazione CONVERSO was founded on the concept of “a total art” first popularized in spaces just like it. This holistic approach to curation through the comingling of art, architecture, design and performance disrupts the distinction between practices and challenges the conventions of exhibition.
As home to the arts for almost 500 years, the church’s Late Renaissance interiors have today been reimagined as two unique exhibition spaces that provide opportunity for display beyond the white cube. As a non-profit space, CONVERSO is always free and open to the public, and its nomadic CONVERSO_OFFSITE program extends into publishing and site-activations around the world.
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.
Monday
Closed
Tuesday
Closed
Wednesday
Closed
Thursday
11:00 am - 7:00 pm
Friday
11:00 am - 7:00 pm
Saturday
11:00 am - 7:00 pm
Sunday
Closed
December 9, 2024 2:25 pm local time
Piazza S. Eufemia, Milan
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