Exhibitions
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italiano, an organisation committed to heightening recognition of the finest craftsmanship through its cultural protection and commercial promotion at an international level. Segno italiano has curated high-quality contemporary artefacts for scenes of “Italian family life”. The exhibition is staged in the stunning hall of the Bagatti Valsecchi museum in Milan and will highlight one of the ancient traditional crafts of Italy: basket-weaving in willow, wicker, cane and other plants. Fine handmade baskets in towering totem-poles spectacularly turn the spotlight on an artistic craft that is still very much alive in many Italian regions. Segno Italiano’s vision connects master craftsmen with new dimensions of a symbolic, metropolitan design. Visitors to the incredible house-museThree days of meetings with master um will discover this technique in a multimedia guided tour craftsmen, demonstrations, special openings of illustrating the secrets of the works on display. The Cologni institutions, museums, workshops and Foundation’s engagement continues with a lecture (presented by the Scuola CorsiArte in collaboration with the “Associazione thematic itineraries provide an extraordinary 5VIE Art+Design”) on Milanese artistic crafts and applied arts. window on artisan talent The lecture takes place at the historic seat of the SIAM, the Society for the encouragement of arts and crafts. The private school Scuola CorsiArte of Milan, founded in 1994, is unique in its kind: it specialises in the history of ancient, modern and contemporary decorative arts, preparing professionals with a complete set of historic-artistic knowledge and technical-diagnostic skills. To enhance the value of workmanship and promote its diffusion in a tangible way, the Cologni Foundation invites citizens and tourists to discover the workshops of Milanese master craftsmen and the places where the products created by great artisans are showcased and sold. In synergy with the events in Geneve, Paris and Vaud, during the weekend of the European Artistic Crafts Days it will be possible to visit the workshops and ateliers of master craftsmen situated in the historic central area of Milan traditionally associated with artistic knowhow: the Cinque Vie (Five Streets), located between Corso Magenta, Via Santa Marta and the Darsena. On Saturday evening of the same weekend, everyone is invited to a special concert by the Ensemble Vocale Harmonia Cordis at the Basilica di San Calimero. The choir interprets works by great composers who have innovated the formal language of religious polyphonic music. With three days of exhibitions, meetings with master craftsmen, demonstrations, special openings of institutions, museums, schools, workshops and thematic itineraries, the ninth edition of the European Artistic Crafts Days is a unique and extraordinary showcase for artisan talent, linking the rediscovery and conservation of traditions with new examples of contemporary craftsmanship.
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