Location: Saint-Étienne, France.

Architect: ANOMIA STUDIO architetture.

The Saint-Etienne Metropole Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art is hosting the first public exhibition of the VOLUME! Foundation outside of Italy. The exhibition, entitled Passaggi, is a retrospective of the foundation’s work since its inception in 1997. VOLUME! was founded by Francesco Nucci and a group of influential Italian artists and intellectuals, with the aim of creating a space where artists could work freely and without constraints. The exhibition is presented as a journey through the history of VOLUME!, with each artist’s work displayed in a small “living unit”. The exhibition also includes photographs and videos documenting the foundation’s activities over the past 17 years. The exhibition is accompanied by a book, which includes essays by prominent art critics and a dialogue between Nucci and Claudia Gioia. The exhibition highlights the foundation’s commitment to artistic freedom and its role in revitalising the cultural scene in Rome in the 1990s.

Photo credit: Yves Bresson, MAMC+, 2015.