Fata Morgana: Memorie dell'invisibile at Palazzo Morando, Milan

Curated by Massimiliano Gioni, Daniel Birnbaum, and Marta Papini, 'Fata Morgana: memorie dell'invisibile' at Palazzo Morando in Milan explores the intersection of art and the occult. The exhibition draws on the history of the venue, once home to Countess Lydia Caprara Morando Attendolo Bolognini, whose library of alchemy, theosophy, and spiritualism now resides in the Archivio Storico Civico e Biblioteca Trivulziana. Central to the show are sixteen previously unseen paintings by Swedish artist Hilma af Klint (1862–1944), who claimed mediumistic guidance to create abstract works predating Kandinsky and Mondrian. The exhibition also features works by Georgiana Houghton, Emma Kunz, and photographs of medium Eusapia Palladino, who fascinated scientists like Cesare Lombroso and the Curies. Surrealist works by Marcel Duchamp, Antonin Artaud, Man Ray, Lee Miller, and Unica Zürn are included, alongside contemporary pieces by Judy Chicago, Carol Rama, Chiara Fumai, Diego Marcon, Giulia Andreani, and Guglielmo Castelli. The exhibition is organized by Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, continuing Gioni's curatorial trajectory since 2002. During the press preview, Gioni referenced Theodor Adorno's critique of occultism as a 'canary in the coal mine' warning against fascism, but the curators counter that the show examines the fluid boundaries between rationality and imagination.