La Triennale di Milano announced today that it will open Triennale di Milano New York (Triennale New York), a dynamic multi-disciplinary space dedicated to Italian culture and creativity, at 40 West 53rd Street in New York City in September 2010. Triennale New York will establish a permanent space in the United States for world-class exhibitions by the renowned Italian Foundation, La Triennale di Milano, making it one of the few international visual arts institutions of its kind to have a presence in New York. The core of the 18,067 sf. space will devoted to the exhibition area, occupying more than half of the space. In addition, the building will include a restaurant, a bookstore, a shop and an espresso bar.
"Triennale New York will bring the essence of Italian identity to New York City," said Davide Rampello, President, La Triennale di Milano "We will try to represent the extraordinary qualities that are the hallmark of Italian ingenuity, industry and culture."
Designed by Italian architects Michele De Lucchi and Pierluigi Cerri, in collaboration with New York Studio CUH2a, the architectural renovation will transform the existing space into a dynamic addition to the cultural thoroughfare that is West 53rd Street.
An open-slat iron staircase will serve as the main artery of the building, connecting the various levels to each other and providing access to the 9,000 sf exhibition gallery located on the lower level. The entire space has been designed to be flexible and will utilize the latest interactive information and exhibition technologies in order to accommodate artistic programs, meet high-quality museum standards, and host a series of talks, special programs, and social and cultural events.
Triennale New York exhibitions will be expressly conceived for a New York audience by La Triennale di Milano curatorial team, under the direction of President Davide Rampello. It will inaugurate the new space with "The Expression of Gio Ponti" an exhibition of architectural models, drawings, writings, and personal objects belonging to one of Italy's most well-known 20th century architects and designers. Curated by one of the members of La Triennale scientific committee, Germano Celant, the exhibition will pull from the Gio Ponti Archives of Milan to explore the relationship the theorist, critic and architect-one of the first truly global architects of the 20th century-had with the U.S., and will be enriched by a diverse program of panel discussions, a catalogue, and ancillary events.
"La Triennale has, for many years, been a place at the center of international, Italian and Milanese debates and culture. Triennale New York will allow us to bring this dialogue-through examples of Italian culture in all its many forms-to New York, as well as into contact with wider global trends and discourse. There is no more perfect way to spark this conversation than to present a protagonist of 20th century Italian design. There are few designers who have had a greater impact on Italy in the 20th century than Gio Ponti," said Mr. Rampello, President of La Triennale di Milano.
Triennale New York will attentively curate all of its "cultural" offerings, considering the restaurant not as a side service, but as an opportunity to get in touch with the extraordinary variety that Italian cuisine is able to express through the culture of its territory. The restaurant will be guest-curated on an ongoing basis by well-known chefs from Italy and will use products from every part of the country, to demonstrate the diverse richness of Italian cuisine, and try to overcome the stereotypes that sometimes mark Italian food abroad. In this very sense, Triennale New York will avail itself of the collaboration of many consortiums which are preserving PDO (Protected Designation of Origin), PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) and TSG (Traditional Speciality Guaranteed) EU agricultural quality products.