The Foundation




The Fondazione Nicola Trussardi is a non-profit institution for the promotion of contemporary culture, founded in Milan in 1996. Neither a museum nor a collection, the Trussardi Foundation acts as an agency for the production and diffusion of contemporary art in a wide variety of contexts and channels.

Beatrice Trussardi has chaired the Foundation since 1999, and in 2002 appointed Massimiliano Gioni to the post of Artistic Director. In January 2003, after many years of activity in the exhibition spaces of Palazzo Marino alla Scala, the Nicola Trussardi Foundation has decided to explore new territories and modes of presenting contemporary art, by pushing the boundaries of the spaces traditionally devoted to today’s creativity.

The Foundation works on the creation of temporary events to demonstrate that art can give a new identity and international visibility to the city, entering our everyday, public existence to enrich it with unexpected languages and experiences. The Foundation’s exhibitions provide both residents and visitors with the chance to rediscover hidden jewels of historical architecture, which are filled with new life through to the energy and vision of contemporary art. The Foundation has restored, reopened and re-established within our collective imagination historical Milanese buildings such as Palazzo Litta, Palazzo Dugnani, and Palazzo Citterio, where international artists have been invited to create new and ambitious works especially for these occasions.

The Fondazione Nicola Trussardi is a mechanism for the transmission and dissemination of culture: thanks to its rapid, flexible, and innovative working method, the Foundation has succeeded in engaging the general public in the language of contemporary art. The Foundation’s exhibitions are always free of charge and open with long viewing hours, to offer everyone a taste of what is going on in the art world today. In recent years, the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi has forged partnership with other prestigious international institutions, museums and exhibitions, such as the Tate Modern in London, the Kunsthaus in Zurich, the Venice Biennale, municipal governments, and national public institutions.

The Nicola Trussardi Foundation is a non-profit private institution founded in Milan in 1996 and granted official recognition by the Italian Ministry of the Interior (Gazzetta Ufficiale of July 1, 1999, no. 64, vol. 140). The Foundation’s activity is financially supported not only by its three founders, Beatrice, Maria Luisa and Gaia Trussardi, but also by private patrons that support its mission and embrace its model. On the occasion of specific projects the Foundation also receives sponsorships from corporate companies, institutions and others who act as a partner or a sponsor.

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