The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto (MART) (''Museo d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto'', in Italian) is a museum centre in the Italian province of

Trento Trento ( or ; Ladin and lmo, Trent; german: Trient ; cim, Tria; , ), also anglicized as Trent, is a city on the Adige River in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol in Italy. It is the capital of the autonomous province of Trento. In the 16th centu ...

. The main site is in

Rovereto Rovereto (; "wood of sessile oaks"; locally: ''Roveredo'') is a city and ''comune'' in Trentino in northern Italy, located in the Vallagarina valley of the Adige River. History Rovereto was an ancient fortress town standing at the frontier b ...

, and contains mostly modern and contemporary artworks, including works from renowned

Giorgio Morandi Giorgio Morandi (July 20, 1890 – June 18, 1964) was an Italian painter and printmaker who specialized in still life. His paintings are noted for their tonal subtlety in depicting simple subjects, which were limited mainly to vases, bottles, b ...

Giorgio de Chirico Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico ( , ; 10 July 1888 – 20 November 1978) was an Italian artist and writer born in Greece. In the years before World War I, he founded the '' scuola metafisica'' art movement, which profoundly influ ...

Antonio Rotta Antonio Rotta (28 February 1828 – 10/11 September 1903) was an Italian painter, mainly of genre subjects. Biography Rotta was born on 28 February 1828 in Gorizia in the Kingdom of Illyria. He enrolled at the Accademia Reale di Belle Arti ...

Felice Casorati Felice Casorati (December 4, 1883 – March 1, 1963) was an Italian painter, sculptor, and printmaker. The paintings for which he is most noted include figure compositions, portraits and still lifes, which are often distinguished by unusua ...

Carlo Carrà Carlo Carrà (; February 11, 1881 – April 13, 1966) was an Italian painter and a leading figure of the Futurist movement that flourished in Italy during the beginning of the 20th century. In addition to his many paintings, he wrote a number ...

, and

Fortunato Depero Fortunato Depero (30 March 1892 – 29 November 1960) was an Italian futurist painter, writer, sculptor, and graphic designer. Biography Although born in Fondo or in the neighboring village of Malosco, according to other sources (in the It ...

. Fortunato Depero's house in Rovereto (known as ''Casa d'Arte Futurista Depero'') is also part of the Museum. The permanent collection contains more than 15,000 artworks, including paintings, drawings,

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ...

s, and sculptures.

History

The MART originated in 1987 as an autonomous entity within the autonomous

Trentino Trentino ( lld, Trentin), officially the Autonomous Province of Trento, is an autonomous province of Italy, in the country's far north. The Trentino and South Tyrol constitute the region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, an autonomous region ...

province. It was installed in the Palazzo delle Albere in

. The idea of expanding the museum to combine both the legacy of the great

futurist Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities abou ...

and the disparate inheritance held by the Trento Regional Arts Museum (''"Museo Provinciale d'Arte di Trento"'') dates back to 1991, and was the project, in the first instance, of

Gabriella Belli Gabriella Belli (born 1952) is an Italian art historian and curator, currently director of the Foundation for the municipal museums of Venice (''"Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia"''). Life Gabriella Belli was born in Trento, the overwhelmingl ...

. On 15 December 2002 the MART finally opened to the general public, with a new headquarters at

, a small town a short distance to the south of

Design and construction

Design of the new building was entrusted to the Ticinese architect

Mario Botta Mario Botta (born 1 April 1943) is a Swiss architect. Career Botta designed his first building, a two-family house at Morbio Superiore in Ticino, at age 16. He graduated from the Università Iuav di Venezia (1969). While the arrangements of spa ...

, who worked on its development with the

structural engineer Giulio Andreolli. A 29,000 square metre site was available, but between the site and the road (Via Bettini) allowance had to be made for two substantial eighteenth century town houses (''palazzi''). Fortunately there is a gap between the two which provides sufficient space for an entrance. Botta's solution to the challenges of the site draws inspiration from classical forms (notably that of the

Pantheon Pantheon may refer to: * Pantheon (religion), a set of gods belonging to a particular religion or tradition, and a temple or sacred building Arts and entertainment Comics *Pantheon (Marvel Comics), a fictional organization * ''Pantheon'' (Lone S ...

), but also incorporates technically adventurous solutions. Invoking the mantra, "Space for art, not space despite art", the design involves a "pantheon without a facade", involving three storeys of museum space arranged around a large round "

agora The agora (; grc, ἀγορά, romanized: ', meaning "market" in Modern Greek) was a central public space in ancient Greek city-states. It is the best representation of a city-state's response to accommodate the social and political order of t ...

", covered over with "glass" dome/cupola with a 40-meter diameter. The structure of the cupola makes extensive use of steel and "plexiglass", and includes a "missing slice" made possible by complex engineering solutions. in the central area beneath the cupola there is a fountain. The wall facings make use of the yellow stone from

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a th ...

, which was the stone favoured by

Andrea Palladio Andrea Palladio ( ; ; 30 November 1508 – 19 August 1580) was an Italian Renaissance architect active in the Venetian Republic. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily Vitruvius, is widely considered to be one of th ...

, although the innovative way in which the facing slabs have been attached allows for each to be individually replaced without major structural upheavals, in a way owes little to the sixteenth century architectural maestro. The "agora" can accommodate up to 1,200 visitors.

Exhibitions

''Words and Stars'' (2 April – 2 July 2017) presented

Nobel prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

winning author Pamuk and renowned

contemporary artist Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic com ...

Toderi's collaborative project exploring "the inclination of man to explore space and innate vocation to question the stars," which took "shape in a trilogy divided into a monologue, dialogue and conversation on the stars: three large installations immersive multi-screen consisting of eight video projections, which combine images and text. The vocation cosmological inherent to the project thus finds expression in a unique visual and literary body." The show was curated by Gianfranco Maraniello."Grazia Toderi & Orhan Pamuk: Words and Stars," by My Art Guides, accessed 6 April 2017, http://myartguides.com/exhibitions/grazia-toderi-orhan-pamuk-words-and-stars/ Recent exhibitions have included ''An Eternal Beauty. The Classical Canon in Early 20th Century Italian Art'' (2 July – 5 November 2017), ''Francesco Lo Savio'' (5 November 2017 – 18 March 2018), ''Magic Realism. Enchantment in Italian Painting in the 1920s and 1930s'' (3 December 2017 – 2 April 2018), ''Gianfranco Baruchello'' (18 May – 16 September 2018), and ''

Richard Artschwager Richard Ernst Artschwager (December 26, 1923 – February 9, 2013) was an American painter, illustrator and sculptor. His work has associations with Pop Art, Conceptual art and Minimalism. Early life and art Richard Artschwager was born to Euro ...

'' (12 October 2019 – 2 February 2020).

References

{{Authority control Rovereto Museums in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto Buildings and structures in Trento Art museums established in 1987 1987 establishments in Italy Buildings and structures completed in 2002 Mario Botta buildings Modernist architecture in Italy