Palazzo Te in Mantua Hosts Exhibition on Antonio Ratti's Textile Legacy

From October 1, Palazzo Te in Mantua presents 'Il tessuto come arte: Antonio Ratti imprenditore e mecenate', an exhibition dedicated to the Como entrepreneur who died in 2002. Organized by the Centro Internazionale d'Arte e di Cultura di Palazzo Te, the Museo Civico di Palazzo Te, and the Comune di Mantova, in collaboration with the Fondazione Antonio Ratti, the show is curated by Lorenzo Benedetti, Annie Ratti, and Maddalena Terragni. It occupies the ground-floor rooms once used by Federico Gonzaga. The exhibition traces Ratti's career from founding the Tessitura Serica Antonio Ratti in 1945, which became the Gruppo Ratti, to establishing the Fondazione Antonio Ratti in 1985, now chaired by his daughter Annie Ratti. Works by artists from the CSAV – Artists Research Laboratory, including Jimmie Durham, Yona Friedman, Joan Jonas, Yvonne Rainer, Mario Garcia Torres, Melanie Gilligan, Diego Perrone, Julia Brown, Giulio Paolini, and Renée Green, are displayed alongside historical and contemporary textiles from the company and foundation archives. A documentary highlights the two textile archives. The exhibition emphasizes Ratti's integration of cultural activities with industrial production, his philanthropy, and his support for contemporary art.