FOUNDATION

About

The Sandra and Giancarlo Bonollo Foundation for Contemporary Art was established in 2023 as a non-profit institution with the aim of promoting contemporary art and new emerging artistic languages.

After more than 30 years of passionate, internationally-minded collecting, the founders, Giancarlo Bonollo and Sandra Dal Santo, now wish to share their experience with the community.

Their intention is to create an exhibition centre serving as a reference point for international contemporary art, thanks to distinguished curators and artists who provide innovative aesthetic languages.

Programme

The Foundation organises a programme structured into two parallel projects: the first, curated by Chiara Nuzzi, focuses on works donated directly from the Bonollo family’s private collection; the second, curated by Marta Papini, presents solo exhibitions of contemporary and emerging artists.

This exhibition programme aims to open the doors of contemporary art to an increasingly broad audience, creating opportunities for young artists and exploring the broader connections between contemporary art and culture, through flexible activities and events open to everyone.

Curators

Marta Papini (Reggio Emilia, 1985) is an independent curator.
She is the curator of Radis, a four-year public art project promoted by Fondazione per l’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea CRT. She is also associate curator of Il parlamento delle marmotte, the 9th edition of the Gherdëina Biennale (2024), and, together with Lorenzo Giusti, of Pensare come una montagna (2024-2026). In 2023, she was part of the selection committee for the Future Generation Art Prize. She was Artistic Organiser of The Milk of Dreams, the 59th edition of the Venice Biennale, curated by Cecilia Alemani (2022). She has curated and organised several exhibitions, including Lonely Are All Bridges. Birgit Jürgenssen and Cinzia Ruggeri, Galerie Hubert Winter, Vienna (2021); Il mondo magico, Italian Pavilion, 57th Venice Biennale (2017, curated by Cecilia Alemani); The Artist is Present, Yuz Museum, Shanghai (2018, with Maurizio Cattelan). She writes about contemporary art for Icon magazine.

Chiara Nuzzi (Napoli, 1986) is a curator, author, and editorial manager.
In 2023, she curated the annual Project Room programme for the Arnaldo Pomodoro Foundation in Milan featuring the exhibition projects Lito Kattou. Whisperers and Paul Maheke. The Purple Chamber. Since 2019, she has been curator and editorial manager of Fondazione ICA Milano, where she curated the exhibitions Erika Verzutti. Notizia (co-curated with Alberto Salvadori); Camille Henrot Estelle Hoy. Jus d’Orange; Rebecca Moccia. Ministry of Loneliness; Chemutai Ng’ok. An impression that may possibly last forever; Annette Kelm. DIE BÜCHER (co-curated with Alberto Salvadori); Costanza Candeloro. My skin-care, my strength, the group exhibition Small Fixations, and Simone Forti. Close to the Heart (co-curated with Alberto Salvadori). She has curated group and solo exhibitions in Italy and abroad, collaborating with various public and private institutions including the Arnaldo Pomodoro Foundation; the Swiss Institute, Milan; ar/ge unst, Bolzano; MART Museum of Trento and Rovereto; Le Narcissio, Nice; Independent Art Fair, Brussels. Recent publications include: Camille Henrot Estelle Hoy. Jus d’Orange (NERO, 2023); Rebecca Moccia. Ministry of Loneliness (Humboldt Books, 2023).

Space

The approximately 300 sqm exhibition space of the Bonollo Foundation is located within the monastic complex of the Dimesse in Thiene, founded in 1613 by the five daughters of Count Antonio Porto and Countess Margherita Caldogno, consecrated, as was customary at the time, to the order of the Dimesse.

One of the most iconic places representing the Foundation’s spaces is the small “Chiesa della Concezione di Maria Vergine”. Now deconsecrated, it was built in 1720 on the structure of a previous chapel from 1673, set like a jewel in the historic 17th-century palace. It was only in the second half of the 20th century that the space was converted into the headquarters of the Istituto Medico-Pedagogico Nordera and then as the headquarters of the Ulss until 2015.

Today, the space is reopened with a different purpose, but which keeps alive the original mission of the order of the Dimesse: sharing and offering a service to the social fabric.

The restoration of the spaces was guided by a search for harmony between ancient and modern, the meeting point where both coexist enhancing each other. The baroque soul of the 18th-century church has been brought to light with a respectful restoration. The carved wooden portal with blooming lily branches, statues, niches, reliefs, and the polychrome marble altar topped by a painting dedicated to the Assunta, now removed, have been preserved.

The Fondazione Sandra e Giancarlo Bonollo per l’arte contemporanea is registered in the Registro Unico Nazionale del Terzo Settore (Runts) and is recognised by decree No. 1296 by the Veneto Region. The activity is currently funded by the founders, other members, and collaborators such as galleries and museums that participate in various exhibitions and shows.