The Museion (from the

greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

μουσείον, meaning the temple of the

muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

s) is the

Museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

of Modern and Contemporary Art of

Bolzano Bolzano ( or ; german: Bozen, (formerly ); bar, Bozn; lld, Balsan or ) is the capital city of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third la ...

, in

South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous area, Autonomous Provinces of Italy, province , image_skyline = ...

, Italy. It was founded in 1985. Since 2006 it has been managed by the Museion Foundation, founded by the Autonomous Province Bozen and the Museion Association. On 24 May 2008 the Museion opened to the public its new venue, built by the KSV - Krüger Schuberth Vandreike architects in the center of Bolzano.

Collections

The Museion currently holds 4500 works of art, both from international and local artists, which are exhibited according to a theme-based rotation. Acquisitions often are made after temporary exhibitions. The displays of works of art in the collection are curated also by artists. In recent years most acquisitions by the Museion have come from exhibitions on contemporary sculpture, and particularly by artists that conceive sculpture as a way to establish relationships between objects and spaces. During the opening of an exhibition by the American sculptor

Carl Andre Carl Andre (born September 16, 1935) is an American minimalist artist recognized for his ordered linear and grid format sculptures and for the suspected murder of contemporary and wife, Ana Mendieta. His sculptures range from large public art ...

, the director of the Museion Letizia Ragaglia has declared: "The sculptures by Carl Andre are not objects meant to be contemplated, but a place to live in, where you can move, have experiences, and establish relationships through physical contact."

Main venue

The main building of the Museion is a cube measuring 54 metres long, 25 metres high and 23 metres wide, with transparent front and rear façades. The building is a physical and symbolic link between the two parts of the city of Bozen.

Other venues

Created in 2003, the ''Piccolo Museion – Cubo Garutti'' is a work by Alberto Garutti. Located in Via Sassari 17b, it functions as an outlying venue for Museion in the Don Bosco neighbourhood of Bolzano.

Library

Specialised in modern and contemporary art, Museion’s library holds 25,000 volumes, 50 subscriptions to art journals and 400 DVDs.

Programs, exhibitions and events

Since its opening, the Museion has focused its programme on research across diverse forms of artistic expressions, and has tried to develop close relationships with artists. During the years the Museion has produced exhibition on the works of artists such as Sonic Youth, Mike Kelley,

Rosemarie Trockel Rosemarie Trockel (born 13 November 1952) is a German conceptual artist. She has made drawings, paintings, sculptures, videos and installations, and has worked in mixed media. From 1985, she made pictures using knitting-machines. She is a pr ...

, Danh Vo, and

Martino Gamper Martino Gamper (born in Merano, Italy, in 1971) is an Italian designer based in London who became internationally regarded through his project ''100 Chairs in 100 Days''. This group of works was exhibited in 2007 in London, the Milan Triennial in ...

Exhibitions

Criticism

Right after the opening of the Museion's new venue, in May 2008, the first exhibition had on display, among others, the work "Zuerst die Füße" by the German artist Martin Kippenberger. That work, conceived as a 'portrait' by the artist in 1990, depicts a crucified frog holding a beer in one hand and an egg in the other. According to the Museion, the sculpture has "nothing to do with religion, and represents instead the inner world of the artist himself following a difficult rehabilitation process from drugs and alcohol abuse." During a visit by the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

some regional politicians declared that the sculpture should be taken down.

Sandro Bondi Sandro Bondi (born 14 May 1959) is an Italian politician. He served as minister of culture from 2008 to 2011, in the Berlusconi IV Cabinet. Biography Bondi was born in Fivizzano, province of Massa-Carrara, Italy. He first attended school at Lau ...

, then

Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism The Ministry of Culture ( it, Ministero della Cultura - MiC) is the ministry of the Government of Italy in charge of national museums and the ''monuments historiques''. MiC's headquarters are located in the historic Collegio Romano Palace (vi ...

declared that the sculpture was "also an offense to common sense".

References

External links

*
KSV - Krüger, Schuberth, Vandreike

Corriere della sera-direttrice licenziata
* {{Authority control Art museums and galleries in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol Art museums established in 1985 Buildings and structures in Bolzano Contemporary art galleries in Italy 1985 establishments in Italy Art museums and galleries in Italy