Ticino gets back an art crossroad with the opening of the LAC in Lugano
The relationship between the Ticino and art has always been very intense. Not only for the Swiss artists, but especially because it has been an attractive pole for painters, sculptors and writers. A refuge during wars, a happy and rural arcadia just a few steps from the industrialized Central Europe, but also a bridge between Northern and Southern Europe art: a vibrant land of exchange, debate and innovation.
Let’s think about the unconventional experience of the naturist-vegetarian community “Monte Verità”, that attracted to Ascona artistic personalities such as Marianne Werefkin, Alexej Jawlenski, Paul Klee, Herman Hesse, Arthur Segal, Hans Arp and many others. Or the Rot-Blau group (Red-Blue as the colors of the Canton flag) with Kirchner, Scherer, Müller and Camenisch, who chose as their home the Mendrisiotto area. Or Locarno which hosted Ignaz Epper, Fritz Pauli, Johannes Robert Schürch, and where many exponents of abstract art passed, as Jean Arp, Hans Richter, Fritz Glarner, Italo Valenti and so on.
Art and Ticino are thus terms that history has approached more than once. A blend that today finds a new expression with the birth of the LAC in Lugano, a great artistic hub expected to become a new cultural landmark for Switzerland, open to Europe and the rest of the world.
LAC: a new cultural hub for Lugano and Ticino
The LAC (Lugano Arte e Cultura) is the new cultural center of Lugano dedicated to visual arts, music and performing arts. Its goal is clear and explicit: promote arts in general, without distinction, to reach an audience as widest and international as possible.
A goal that the LAC wants to achieve by offering high artistic quality, involving Swiss cultural operators but also open to collaborations with international artists.
A vocation to the meeting between art, artists and the community, reflected in the architectural configuration of the building, designed by the architect Ivano Gianola, open to the lake and the city, with no barriers or physical separation. Not a prestigious building, but a real area for arts and culture.
The activities of the LAC will be intense and varied: exhibitions and events, music festivals, theater and dance, cultural events and activities mainly dedicated to young people and families.
For what concerns visual arts, the LAC will be the seat of the Art Museum for Italian Switzerland: three exhibition stages that will melt the permanent collection of Museo Cantonale d’Arte and Museo d’Arte of Lugano, as well as temporary exhibitions and site-specific installations.
This is why the LAC is set to become an international cultural center, returning to Lugano and Ticino the role of “cultural crossroads between the northern and southern Europe,” to quote the words of the director, Michel Gagnon. A beating heart of a cultural network that combines around a joint project, art galleries, collectors and experts. A project we will be glad and honored to take part.
LAC: a new cultural hub for Lugano and Ticino
The LAC (Lugano Arte e Cultura) is the new cultural center of Lugano dedicated to visual arts, music and performing arts. Its goal is clear and explicit: promote arts in general, without distinction, to reach an audience as widest and international as possible.
A goal that the LAC wants to achieve by offering high artistic quality, involving Swiss cultural operators but also open to collaborations with international artists.
A vocation to the meeting between art, artists and the community, reflected in the architectural configuration of the building, designed by the architect Ivano Gianola, open to the lake and the city, with no barriers or physical separation. Not a prestigious building, but a real area for arts and culture.
The activities of the LAC will be intense and varied: exhibitions and events, music festivals, theater and dance, cultural events and activities mainly dedicated to young people and families.
For what concerns visual arts, the LAC will be the seat of the Art Museum for Italian Switzerland: three exhibition stages that will melt the permanent collection of Museo Cantonale d’Arte and Museo d’Arte of Lugano, as well as temporary exhibitions and site-specific installations.
This is why the LAC is set to become an international cultural center, returning to Lugano and Ticino the role of “cultural crossroads between the northern and southern Europe,” to quote the words of the director, Michel Gagnon. A beating heart of a cultural network that combines around a joint project, art galleries, collectors and experts. A project we will be glad and honored to take part.
