Prada's artistic contribution to Milano is not limited to its acclaimed location in the city (the Foundation and the Observatory), but it also singles out a somewhat suburban place of worship in Milano. Prada displays a very interesting installation at S. Maria Annunciata in Chiesa Rossa, near Piazzale Abbiategrasso, a religious complex that Reverend Giulio Greco decided to revamp in 1996, decorating it with a site-specific installation realized by the great master of light: Dan Flavin.
The work at Chiesa Rossa was one of the last that the American artist created before his death, and was carried out posthumously by the Prada Foundation in collaboration with the Dia Center for the Arts in New York and the Dan Flavin Estate.
Dan Flavin, a major representative of minimalism, boasts works on display all over the world - often site-specific - with an interesting and often praised reflection on the contrast between works of art and the surrounding architecture. The basic modules of his works are the famous fluorescent neon tubes, with an industrial echo, in a dialogue with the natural light that invades the enclosed spaces. This is also the case of what can be seen today in Chiesa Rossa: the work, designed and created for this particular place of worship in Milano, is based on a series of tubular modules embedded in corners where green, blue, pink and golden neon tubes meet the natural light inside the church. The chromatic flow between nave, transept and apse mystically awakens the feeling of a progression, both natural and imaginary, from dawn to day and night. Dan Flavin has created a number of installations all over the world but the added value of visiting S. Maria Annunciata in Chiesa Rossa is that the artist, an expert theologian, was in this particular instance able to match his religious knowledge with contemporary art.
Opening times:
16-19 PM
Ticket information:
Free permanent installation
Public transport:
UNDERGROUND
M2 - Abbiategrasso stop
TRAM
3, 15