All the exhibitions to see in and around Milan this summer

At settantaventidue in Milan, two exhibitions bring together two very different bodies of work that are united by a shared exploration of the language of photography. In the Canal Project Room, John Coplans (1920–2003) is the focus of an exhibition that traces his best-known body of work—the monumental black-and-white self-portraits he created in his later years—accompanied by a rare selection of Xerox works that attest to the experimental nature of his practice. In the second space, Alessandra Spranzi presents a new project that brings together historical works and new pieces, conceived specifically for the exhibition space. Photography and video become tools for observing, recomposing, and reinterpreting images, objects, and memories through a process that continually questions the meaning of what appears familiar. These two distinct exhibitions, though rooted in different experiences and generations, reflect on the potential of the image as a tool for investigating reality.

Through July 25, the Anni Wu Gallery is hosting “Siphonophores,” a double solo exhibition focusing on the work of Ludovica Anversa (Milan, 1996) and Manuel Cornelius (Oberhausen, 1991). The exhibition’s title refers to siphonophores, complex marine organisms formed by a colony of individuals that act as a single entity: a scientific metaphor used to explore the concepts of change, identity, and interconnectedness. Ludovica Anversa’s canvases focus on the dissolution of form, capturing—through layers of paint, glazes, and abrasions—the precarious moment that precedes the image’s disappearance. These works are complemented by Manuel Cornelius’s sculptures, created through a combination of digital modeling and the use of biologically derived elements such as agar-agar, a gelatin derived from seaweed. The organic material reacts spontaneously to the environment, allowing the works to continue to change over time. The result is a fascinating reflection on our nature as individuals who are not isolated but connected to our surroundings—an invitation to conceive of ourselves as in a state of constant metamorphosis with the environment.

Fragments, rubble, collages, and assemblages are the central theme of the new edition of PERFORMING PAC, the format through which Milan’s Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea reinterprets some of the exhibitions that have shaped its history. Titled “These Fragments I Have Shored Against My Ruins,” the project draws inspiration from the 2001 exhibition dedicated to Kurt Schwitters to reflect on the theme of reconstruction through the works of seven contemporary artists: Jacopo Benassi, John Bock, Gabriella Ciancimino, Roberto Cuoghi, Thomas Hirschhorn, Lucia Marcucci, and Mika Rottenberg. Collage, accumulation, layering, and the reuse of materials become tools for examining the present and the memory of the place, precisely in the year marking the 30th anniversary of the PAC’s reconstruction following the 1993 Via Palestro bombing. The exhibition is complemented by the Project Room “Architecture Put to the Test. Ignazio Gardella’s PAC,” dedicated to the building’s reconstruction project through drawings, models, and archival materials.  

From June 4 to October 18, 2026, the Sala delle Capriate at Palazzo della Ragione in Bergamo will host “Tabula Plena,” a site-specific exhibition by Fosbury Architecture and Claire Fontaine, presented by GAMeC as part of the “Pedagogy of Hope” program. Inspired by the educationalist Paulo Freire, the project transforms the space into a permanent laboratory for emancipation and the critical sharing of knowledge. The installation is centered around a habitable platform designed by Fosbury, enriched with glyphs created through dialogue with local schools. On this platform, Claire Fontaine’s emoji-shaped light sculptures engage in a dialogue, serving as a critique of digital isolation. Through three free workshops co-designed with Adelita Husni Bey, Numero Cromatico, and Sabrina D’Alessandro’s URPS, the exhibition invites visitors to break free from daily routines and become active producers of knowledge.

From July 10 to October 18, 2026, the Gallerie d’Italia in Milan will host the exhibition “Beauty and Ugliness: The Ideal, the Real, and the Caricatured in the Renaissance,” curated by Chiara Rabbi Bernard in collaboration with Bozar in Brussels. The exhibition explores the evolution and interdependence of these two aesthetic categories between the late 15th and 16th centuries. Through masterpieces by artists such as Botticelli, Michelangelo, Titian, Dürer, and Cranach, the exhibition offers a unique comparative analysis of the Italian and Northern European Renaissances. From the mathematical canons of classical perfection to the naturalistic mimesis of “true Nature,” and on to the artistic redemption of the deformed, the monstrous, and the caricature, the exhibition reveals how the 16th century legitimized the power of creative artifice, ultimately codifying the fascinating concept of “beautiful ugliness.”

Considered one of the absolute pioneers of contemporary color photography, Harry Gruyaert is the focus of the first major Italian retrospective, hosted at CAMERA in Turin from June 18 to October 4, 2026. The Belgian photographer, a longtime member of Magnum Photos, broke with the black-and-white tradition that dominated the 1970s and 1980s, endowing color with a purely emotional and perceptual value. Organized chronologically, the exhibition begins with the groundbreaking experimental series “TV Shots” and culminates in his most recent digital works. Following in the footsteps of American masters such as Saul Leiter and William Eggleston, the exhibition celebrates a visual exploration in which color ceases to be a mere descriptive element of reality and transforms into a dazzling physical, sensory, and psychological experience.

Chinese artist Cao Fei is the focus of the summer program at the Fondazione Prada in Milan with her multimedia project “Dash,” which explores the relationship between humans and technology. Through the use of photography, video installations, virtual reality, documentaries, and archival materials, the exhibition offers an overview of the smart agriculture revolution, the result of a three-year research project conducted by the artist in China and Southeast Asia. Compared to her best-known works dedicated to industrial and logistics spaces, this time the focus shifts to agriculture as the foundation of civilization. The exhibition creates a dialogue between artificial intelligence and satellite systems on one hand, and traditional knowledge and the rituals of the land on the other, addressing the contradictions of a sector now facing global challenges such as climate change, water scarcity, and the depopulation of rural areas. The exhibition at the Prada Foundation reaffirms the artist’s central role in the contemporary art scene, at a time when she is also taking center stage in Basel with “Testimonies to the Near Future” at the Kunstmuseum Basel.

From May 29 to September 6, 2026, Triennale Milano presents “Francesco Clemente: In Between,” curated by Francesca Pietropaolo with Robert Storr. This is the first major public retrospective in Milan dedicated to the master of the Transavantgarde and marks his return to Italy after more than fifteen years. Through approximately seventy works spanning from the 1970s to the present, the exhibition explores the dimension of the “in-between” – that fluid, intermediate space between different worlds, cultures, and spiritualities. The exhibition celebrates the multifaceted nature of Clemente’s work, which ranges from oil on canvas to fresco and watercolor, highlighting a constant metamorphosis in which East and West, the sensual and the spiritual, coexist. Among the masterpieces on display, the historic reunion of the three 1982 paintings “My House,” “My Parents,” and “My Journey” stands out.

Considered one of the key figures in contemporary art, British filmmaker Isaac Julien—who was knighted in 2022—is the focus of a major retrospective hosted by GRES ART 671 in Bergamo through October 4, 2026. In his works, Julien weaves together film, choreography, and the visual arts to explore central themes such as identity, migration, and historical memory. The exhibition, curated by Nathan Ladd, traces the artist’s career spanning over thirty years through five impressive multi-screen video installations—four of which have never been shown in Italy—accompanied by sculptures, artifacts, photographs, and archival materials. The exhibition design by Adjaye Associates transforms the former industrial pavilion into a free-flowing, non-linear journey, organized into spaces with strong symbolic colors, allowing the public to move freely among emblematic works—such as the tribute to Lina Bo Bardi—and more recent pieces, such as “Once Again...” (2022), an installation that critically examines the tradition of Western museums.

A pioneer of “Precarious Art” and a leading voice in decolonial feminism, Chilean artist, poet, and activist Cecilia Vicuña arrives at the Castello di Rivoli with El glaciar ido, her first solo exhibition in an Italian museum. Curated by Marcella Beccaria, the exhibition unfolds in the Manica Lunga spaces around a monumental “quipu acostado”: a horizontal installation made of suspended raw wool, deliberately devoid of knots to symbolize the progressive loss of our collective memory regarding the Earth. The work directly evokes the disappearance of the glaciers in the nearby Susa Valley and humanity’s impact on the ecosystem, closely linking the ecological emergency to the historical tragedy of the “desaparecidos” during the Chilean dictatorship. Through videos, songs, and poems written directly on the walls, the project showcases the artist’s unique ability to transform fragile materials into aerial installations imbued with profound political and social meaning.

From April 9, 2026, to January 10, 2027, the rooms of Villa Panza in Varese will host the exhibition “Josef Albers: Meditations,” a project by the FAI and the Josef & Anni Albers Foundation. Curated by Nicholas Fox Weber with Gabriella Belli, the exhibition features twenty-nine works—including rarely exhibited masterpieces—from the famous Variant/Adobe and Homage to the Square series. The layout does not follow a chronological order but unfolds as an intimate and ethereal journey through the rooms overlooking the park. The works engage magnificently with the meditative spirit of Giuseppe Panza di Biumo’s permanent collection. Dedicated to the memory of Maria Giuseppina Panza di Biumo, the exhibition invites visitors to engage in a slow “exercise in seeing,” where the German artist’s variations on the theme become a pure and profound exploration of the perception of color.

At the MA*GA Museum, the monographic exhibition “Roads End Before They Begin. Vincenzo Agnetti and His Photographic Traces” celebrates the centennial of the birth of one of the leading figures of Italian Conceptual Art. Supported by the DGCC’s “Strategia Fotografia 2025” initiative—Ministry of Culture, the project was developed in close collaboration with the artist’s archive and explores his unique relationship with the medium of photography. At the heart of the exhibition is the significant acquisition of the series “Dopo le Grandi Manovre,” a cycle in which Agnetti reworks 19th-century Japanese photographs discovered in Gibraltar, superimposing texts and graphic symbols upon them in a sharp, ironic, and temporal interplay. Amid narrative fragments and decontextualizations, the exhibition also includes iconic masterpieces such as “Il Trono” (with Paolo Scheggi) and the famous “Libro dimenticato a memoria.”

As part of the seventh edition of Una Boccata d’Arte, the widespread project conceived by Fondazione Elpis, the village of Cornovecchio in the province of Lodi is hosting “Refugia,” a site-specific installation created by Anouk Tschanz and curated by Edoardo De Cobelli. Inaugurated on June 21, 2026, the project explores the “costone,” an ancient embankment slope along the Adda River that survives as a narrow reserve of biodiversity amid the expanses of the Po Valley. With a perspective that is both scientific and conceptual, the Swiss artist investigates this microcosm of flora and fauna using black-and-white analog photography. The macro photographs capture the insects that inhabit this fragile oasis, which the artist conceives as a vital refuge and an island of biological resilience immersed in the era of industrial agriculture.

Pirelli HangarBicocca revisits Rirkrit Tiravanija’s thirty-year career with “The House That Jack Built,” a major exhibition that focuses on the profound connection between architectural space and human relationships. Curated by Lucia Aspesi and Vicente Todolí, the exhibition takes its name from a well-known English nursery rhyme to shift the focus from the artist’s individuality to the collective dimension. In Tiravanija’s vision, art is never an object to be contemplated in isolation, but rather an opportunity for encounter and connection. The exhibition brings together a wide selection of works, many of which reinterpret and modify famous projects that have shaped the history of modernist architecture, such as Le Corbusier’s Maison Dom-ino (1914) and Philip Johnson’s Glass House (1949). Moving away from the idea of an exhibition to be viewed from a distance, the project comes to life day by day precisely through the spontaneous actions of the public, who are invited to inhabit the space and create ever-changing social interactions.

The Consonni Radziszewski gallery presents a unique and fascinating dialogue between the works of Enzo Cucchi and Aleksandra Waliszewska. The exhibition brings together two generations and two distant artistic worlds, yet deeply united by a return to figuration and the power of allegory. On one hand, Enzo Cucchi, a key figure of the Italian Transavantgarde, who has been subverting minimalism since the 1970s with a visionary pictorial and sculptural language; on the other, Aleksandra Waliszewska, a Polish artist who draws on Slavic folklore, industrial landscapes, and ancestral myths. Through worlds populated by symbols and enigmas, the exhibition explores the human condition and primordial emotions, such as fear and desire.

During the summer of 2026, Palazzo Reale will present a major retrospective of Mario Raciti, one of the leading figures of Italian abstraction in the second half of the 20th century, tracing his career spanning over sixty years. Curated by Luca Pietro Nicoletti, the exhibition brings together approximately one hundred works from the Museo del Novecento in Milan, the Mart in Rovereto, and private collections, tracing the evolution of his artistic practice from the 1950s through to his most recent works. Born in Milan in 1934, Raciti gave up his career as a lawyer in the early 1960s to devote himself entirely to painting, developing a post-informal style characterized by a constant tension between reality, memory, and the inner world. The exhibition, part of the “Maestri a Milano” series, pays tribute to the artist’s long relationship with the city, tracing the career of a figure who has made painting a tool for poetic inquiry and reflection on time.