Beatrice Trussardi launches her foundation: the first project will be in Engadine

Beatrice Trussardi, cultural entrepreneur and president of the Nicola Trussardi Foundation since 1999, has announced the launch of her own foundation, the Beatrice Trussardi Foundation, a nonprofit organization that will aim to support, produce and exhibit site-specific installations in “unusual locations internationally,” as the official presentation states. “The Foundation,” the presentation continues, “expands internationally the acclaimed ’nomadic museum’ model first established by the Nicola Trussardi Foundation in the city of Milan and in Italy. The Beatrice Trussardi Foundation offers a program of innovative interventions in ??exceptional contexts around the world, alongside pioneering research and study projects.”

The new institute has the artistic direction of Massimiliano Gioni and will invite for its projects artists with a particular sensitivity to their contexts, who confront their environments and find bold ways to surprise, entice and interact with local and international audiences. The topics of the projects? They will address topics such as climate change, gender identity and inequality, human rights, innovation, and more. The research program will be led by writer Giuliano da Empoli. The works commissioned by the foundation will remain with the artists (in fact, the foundation will not have a collection) and the research developed as part of its projects will always be freely accessible to the public.

Beatrice Trussardi. Photo Marco De Scalzi

The foundation, therefore, will not have a fixed location, but will move each time to different and unfamiliar, if not remote, places. And, speaking of unusual places, the first project will take place from July 11 to August 29, 2021 in Val Fex, in the Engadine (Switzerland), a few kilometers from Sankt Moritz: it is Franciszek, an intervention with which Polish sculptor Paweł Althamer will transform a 17th-century hut into a mysterious chapel. The work will be located in a mountain hut 2,000 meters above sea level (accessible only on foot or in horse-drawn wagons) in Val Fex, at the center of one of the Engadine’s most popular hiking trails. The Beatrice Trussardi Foundation considered Val Fex to be the most interesting starting point (because of the possibility it offers for a comparison of centuries-old traditions and modernization in rural Europe) for a reflection on recent transformations, both environmental and social, in the region. Over the centuries, the Engadine’s geographical position as one of Europe’s highest inhabited valleys and its unique geological formations have made it a beloved place for artists and intellectuals. Thus, in this modest 17th-century hut, Paweł Althamer will create one of his “tableaux” in which he combines memories of sacred art with vernacular influences from various cultures. At the center of this installation is the figure of St. Francis, chosen as a symbol of deep communion with nature and simultaneous detachment from earthly goods.

The site that will host Althamer’s intervention. Photo Marco De Scalzi

In Althamer’s works, often created with organic materials such as grass, leaves, wax, animal entrails and skins, reality and fiction merge to create a fantastic and mysterious atmosphere. Within this world, human figures are the recurring units against which to measure reality and at the same time serve as a doorway that opens to spiritual experiences. This installation is rooted in the tradition of a “visionary Switzerland,” as described by curator Harald Szeemann, and inspired by the combination of spiritualism and materialism that can be appreciated in the work of intellectuals and artists who frequented or lived in the Engadine, such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Giovanni Segantini, Lou Salomé and Alberto Giacometti, each of whom profoundly influences the way we imagine and experience nature.

Beatrice Trussardi launches her foundation: the first project will be in Engadine

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