BAG Bocconi Art Gallery

Art has the ability to transform places and the people who inhabit them. At Bocconi University, this pursuit is intertwined with a long tradition of commitment to culture and the arts.

Bocconi and Art

Programs

As early as 1999, the Degree in Economics and Management for Art, Culture and Communication (CLEACC) was established, the first degree program in Italy dedicated to this field. Other programs followed: from the Master of Science in Economics and Management in Art, Culture, Media and Entertainment in 2004 to the more recent Master in Arts Management and Administration, launched by SDA Bocconi in 2015.

Displays

The idea of a multi-site exhibition space dedicated to contemporary art was already present at Bocconi in the late 1990s. It would be from this insight that the Bocconi Art Gallery (BAG) would take shape, starting in 2009. With the support of Giuseppe Panza di Biumo — one of the leading collectors of contemporary art in Italy — the first CLEACC Program Director, Professor Severino Salvemini, guided the university towards choosing a vision that focused on seeking out abstract and conceptual art as the identifying feature of this project.

BAG has become an annual event in Milan, open to the University, local residents, art lovers and enthusiasts from all backgrounds: on this occasion the campus is transformed into an exhibition space where attendees can dialogue with artists, sharing thoughts and ideas. It is precisely through its ability to evoke emotions, challenge conventions and initiate conversations that contemporary art reflects the global world.

A dialogue between art and architecture also takes shape in the aesthetics of the University buildings where artwork is present: they include the historic location at Sarfatti25 designed by Giuseppe Pagano, the Röntgen1 building designed by the Grafton Architect firm and the most recent buildings designed by the SANAA architectural firm.

BAG has been expanded over the years thanks to collaborations with Italian and international artists, foundations, galleries and collectors. Today it offers the public innovative site-specific projects, installations, paintings and sculptures. This year, BAG - Bocconi Art Gallery presents "Giverny, Giverny. Nature and Abstraction in Contemporary Art", the exhibition that, one hundred years after Claude Monet's passing, explores the relationship between art and nature through more than 90 works by 27 contemporary artists.