Toast Project Space Opens in Florence's Manifattura Tabacchi

Artist Stefano Giuri, in collaboration with critic and Museo Novecento artistic director Sergio Risaliti, has launched Toast Project Space inside the Manifattura Tabacchi complex in Florence. The micro-gallery, located in the former porter's lodge, debuts with Rebecca Moccia's installation Cuore, on view from January 24 to March 24, 2019. Toast is conceived as a research-oriented space for emerging artists, free from commercial gallery logic. The Manifattura Tabacchi, a rationalist architectural complex built between 1933 and 1940 by Pier Luigi Nervi's firm, operated as a tobacco factory until 2001, employing over 1,400 workers. After closure, a nearly €200 million redevelopment project by a joint venture between Gruppo Cassa depositi e prestiti's real estate arm and Aermont's PW Real Estate III LP fund is transforming the site into a mixed-use hub with shops, artisan workshops, co-working spaces, exhibition areas, residences, and a third Polimoda campus. The redevelopment also includes an artist residency curated by Risaliti, where six young artists lived and worked for six months. Giuri participated in this residency, which inspired him to establish Toast. The residency's theme was 'care,' leading Giuri to view his space as an act of artistic stewardship. Future programming will feature monthly exhibitions by emerging artists, with additional projects engaging Tuscan artists.