Manifattura Tabacchi opens new space with Palazzo Strozzi's Fuorimostra and a rooftop garden

Manifattura Tabacchi has opened a new multifunctional space in the heart of theformer Florentine cigar factory with a special exhibition dedicated to Katja Novitskova, open free to the public until June 18, 2023. Realized as part of Palazzo Strozzi’s Fuorimostra for Reaching for the Stars, the major exhibition celebrating 30 years of the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Collection by bringing the stars of contemporary art to Florence, the project is an opportunity to visit the newly renovated spaces of the Factory, a cutting-edge creative and production district within the former Florentine cigar factory. Restaurants, cafes, stores, offices, artisan workshops, a roof garden and a calendar full of initiatives in the innovative Florentine hub for contemporary culture, which welcomes visitors from morning to night.

The Factory covers a total area of more than 21,000 square meters, including more than 5,090 square meters of retail and food&beverage spaces, 11,220 square meters of efficient and green executive spaces, 1,735 square meters of exhibition and multifunctional spaces, and 7,240 square meters of public areas. It is an ever-evolving district. The architectural design is by the Florentine firm q-bic of Luca and Marco Baldini, assisted by landscape architect Antonio Perazzi.

“Thanks to the Factory’s increasingly multifunctional spaces, aimed at the new generations, devoted to art and culture but also to design, sustainability and biodiversity, Manifattura Tabacchi confirms itself as a place of contemporaneity, experimentation and innovation,” points out Deputy Mayor and Councillor for Culture Alessia Bettini. “Manifattura is a concrete and extraordinary example of what urban regeneration means, but it is also a demonstration of how Florence, a city with a great past, now knows how to look to the future and make the most avant-garde artistic languages its own. The exhibition dedicated to Katja Novitskova tells the challenges of today through art, making us reflect on the relationship between real and virtual. Important is the synergy with Palazzo Strozzi, which is hosting in this period an exceptional exhibition such as ’Reaching for the Stars,’ under the banner of that trend of networking that even in the world of culture can make a difference.”

“The collaboration with Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi again marks the transformation of Manifattura Tabacchi: after Tomás Saraceno’s aerosolar sculptures in 2020, today we are exhibiting Katja Novitskova’s enigmatic animals in the newly completed spaces of the Factory, confirming the cultural and innovative vocation of this place,” says Michelangelo Giombini, Head of Product Development & CEO of MTDM. “This exhibition inaugurates a further phase in the development of Manifattura, which, after hosting an intense program of events and temporary activities open to the city, now becomes fully operational with stores, restaurants, offices and multifunctional spaces intended to make it a new nerve center for Florence, contemporary and complementary to the historic center.”

From April 12 to June 18, Manifattura Tabacchi Factory will host the works of Katja Novitskova, an internationally renowned Estonian artist who offers a reflection on the value of images in the contemporary world. The exhibition represents a step in the Fuorimostra at Palazzo Strozzi, where the major exhibition Reaching for the Stars is on view until June 18.

In her photo-sculptures, part of the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Collection, Novitskova reproduces in large format, on shaped aluminum sheets and cardboard panels, images of animals-such as an ibis, a polar bear, a cat, three anthills-collected from the Internet. Photographs transformed these animals into flat, immaterial images before the artist took possession of them and gave them back their three dimensions through the work; everything happens, however, while waiting for the public’s shots, which will bring them back to their inevitable starting condition.

“We are happy to renew the collaboration with Manifattura Tabacchi, which on this occasion finds the development of a special exhibition project of Katja Novitskova’s works within the new space of the Factory, thanks to the partnership with Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo,” says Arturo Galansino, General Director of Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and curator of the exhibition Reaching for the stars. From Maurizio Cattelan to Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. “The initiative is part of the Fuorimostra of the major exhibition Reaching for the Stars, amplifying its value as a platform on contemporary languages and themes and testifying to Palazzo Strozzi’s open approach to the city, going beyond its walls to meet new audiences and create connections with places that are only apparently distant. On this occasion, Novitskova offers us a reflection on the value of images and the relationship between the natural and the artificial in the contemporary world. She seems to ask: what is real and what only imagined of what we see with our eyes or through digital devices? This question resonates as a central reflection in today’s world, marked by digital technology and the continuous production and enjoyment of visual content, thus cracking a clear demarcation between the natural world and the world of representation.”

The exhibition is set up in a new 350-square-meter space specifically dedicated to art, carved out of the Factory’s central building - B11, the former factory workshop - which q-bic has transformed into a distinctively designed venue while preserving its characteristic features, original materials and signs of time. Intended to host a palimpsest of events curated by Manifattura Tabacchi and aimed at the community, B11 collects the legacy of the temporary program of initiatives that has animated Manifattura since 2018, making it immediately alive and accessible to the public during the construction period. Inside it currently houses Toast Project Space, a place for reflection on contemporary languages and practices born in the former porter’s lodge in the Manifattura Tabacchi from an idea of artist Stefano Giuri; and Associazione Arte Continua, a reality specialized in the creation of public art initiatives led by Mario Cristiani, founder of Galleria Continua.

The building is open to creative and entrepreneurial realities interested in bringing ideas and projects into the Factory, either by leasing space or choosing B11 as their permanent home.

From April 12, on the roof of the B11 building, Manifattura Tabacchi’sOfficina Botanica, a public roof garden designed by landscape architect Antonio Perazzi, also opens. A hidden botanical garden conceived to foster a modern coexistence between man and landscape under the sign of mutual respect. Stretching over an area of 560 square meters, with 96 trees and 1,300 shrubs and perennials, the Officina Botanica is a suspended forest rich in biodiversity that is perfectly integrated into the industrial architecture, focusing on micro-flora and botanical rarities that characterize the uniqueness of the Florentine and Tuscan landscape. Perazzi has selected species that require little maintenance and water supply and are able to filter and reduce air pollutants: a sustainable, flexible and low-energy approach in line with the principle of cultural, architectural and environmental regeneration that characterizes the entire Manifattura Tabacchi project. Open to the public, the Botanical Workshop is a place for gathering, relaxation and contact with nature dedicated to those who frequent the Factory for work or leisure.

Access to Manifattura Tabacchi is reserved exclusively for pedestrians and cyclists: an invitation to embrace sustainable mobility. An 800-space parking lot will be inaugurated in the coming weeks, and work is underway on the T4 tramway line, which will connect the complex to downtown Florence from 2025.

Welcoming visitors inside the Factory, accessible from 11 Via Tartini, are two large lobbies in which two pairs of “Air Factory,” the special devices designed by neuroscientist Mancuso with Pnat that, thanks to a patented system, uses plants to purify indoor air, are installed. An approach that, once again, is intended to highlight the responsible and eco-friendly philosophy that animates the Manifattura Tabacchi regeneration project.

Credit: “Katja Novitskova,” Manifattura Tabacchi, Florence. Courtesy of Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo and Kraupa Tuskany Zeidler. Photo by Leonardo Morfini

Manifattura Tabacchi opens new space with Palazzo Strozzi's Fuorimostra and a rooftop garden

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.