10.02.2023 – 01.10.2023
ART AT THE ANTIPODES. The Brignoni Collection
120 years after the birth of the Swiss surrealist artist and collector Serge Brignoni, MUSEC celebrates the passion and visionary spirit of the man who, by donating more than 650 world-class works to the City of Lugano, led to the birth of the Museo delle Culture in the mid-1980s. ARTE AGLI ANTIPODI is the first major exhibition that MUSEC dedicates entirely to the Brignoni Collection in its new location at Villa Malpensata. The exhibition is a further step in the work conducted since 2005, the beginning of MUSEC’s relaunch phase, to fully realise Brignoni’s dream at the origin of his decision to donate his collection. Brignoni’s intention was to make future generations understand how the discovery of ethnic art had forever transformed the languages of the avant-gardes, and how the works he had passionately collected for over sixty years were illustrious sources for understanding the transformations of 20th century art.
Curated by Francesco Paolo Campione, director of MUSEC, the temporary exhibition shows 73 masterpieces from South-East Asia and Oceania, including small and large sculptures, masks, shields, and architectural elements representing the excellence of each genre and style. In addition to presenting some works that have never been exhibited in the Museum’s original location (the Heleneum), for the first time the exhibition brings together works donated to the City of Lugano in 1985 and sculptures from the small nucleus that Brignoni had destined for the Bern Kunstmuseum, which, in turn, donated it to MUSEC in 2018. The exhibition is set in the 13 rooms of the Spazio Mostre on the two main floors of the Villa Malpensata.