Underground

16 - 27 September 2026
Passante Ferroviario di Porta Venezia, Milano

The myth of an underground, mirror-image, dual world to the one we navigate every day runs through the collective imagination and cultures of every era and country, taking the form, in turn, of caverns, Vulcan’s caves, Dante’s, the caves of Ali Baba and the Count of Monte Cristo, and cities buried by time; yet it found its most complete realisation in the Positivist era, in the mid-nineteenth century, with the London Underground.

The city can be traversed underground, sheltered from the elements and the chaos of everyday life. From this extraordinary insight came the idea of enriching the underground railway network with spaces and services, creating veritable ‘underground cities’. In major international metro networks, these take the form of shopping centres, exhibition venues, eateries, or – as in London in 1940 and in Kiev in recent years – shelters.
The idea that the large, unused spaces within Milan’s ‘Passante’ underground railway network could be used to host cultural events, not only for passengers using the rail service, but also open to the wider city, based on a study jointly commissioned by the Faculties of Architecture and the Academies of Fine Arts in Milan and Turin, and published in the book *Progetto Passante* (2005).

This led, in 2010, to a proposal by the ‘Associazione le Belle Arti’, a third-sector organisation, submitted to Rete Ferroviari Italian, aimed at re-evaluating the spaces of the Passante through a network of organisations dedicated to promoting culture amongst individuals and in venues not typically associated with cultural events. It is therefore a project that aims to enhance and make available the full range of expertise and specialisms that various organisations have been providing for years in the fields of exhibitions, theatre, music, performance and research, support for young artists, training, and engagement with the public and local communities.
Communities, institutions and local authorities represented by RFI, the Municipality of Milan, the Lombardy Region, numerous municipalities within the Metropolitan City, ANPI, the Brera Academy, the University of Milan-Bicocca, the Boccioni Art School, the Albe Steiner Institute, the Second Prison of Milan-Bollate, and AAmA International Art.

Over the years, a genuine network has emerged covering all the city’s stations, from Porta Vittoria to Villapizzone, enriched by initiatives such as a focus on younger generations – including through the promotion of creativity and artistic expression amongst young people across all fields – and, more generally, on ‘vulnerable communities’, such as marginalised groups including the prison system, migrants and the Roma community.
The proposal for the ‘Underground’ exhibition, put forward by the international Ligne et Couleur Association of Architects and Artists, therefore appears perfectly in keeping with this reality which, this coming September, will present at the Atelier space for Photography and Contemporary Art, at the Porta Venezia Passante station, a selection of works in dialogue with an artist who has always been involved in this field – social activism – Fernando De Filippi. All this amidst the constant, vibrant flow of passengers travelling between the train and the underground.

Renato Galbusera

Exhibition Catalogue - click to download

The 34th International Exhibition of Architect-Artists – Ligne et Couleur opens in Milan beneath the railway link and the MM1 line at Porta Venezia. The choice of these exhibition spaces is not coincidental but closely linked to the title of the exhibition itself: Underground. A railway link is a piece of infrastructure. It is designed for transit, not for stopping. The Atelier della Fotografia and its display windows, which host us at Porta Venezia, reverse this logic; they interrupt the flow and impose a pause. ‘Underground’ arises from this friction. The architect-artists occupy a space that is not a gallery: it is concrete, noise, artificial light, fixed opening hours. This very condition becomes the theme. The operational choice was a simple one: roll-up works. No structures, no invasive fixings, no weights – just the simple act of unrolling an idea and fixing it inside a shop window: a system that is quick to install, reversible, and consistent with a place of passage. The architect’s work usually involves measuring, laying foundations and building; here, it has been measured in glances and founded on an image. The works on display are not final designs; they are notes, diagrams and visions, working material taken out of the studios and placed in transit. This exhibition has linked two scales: the urban scale of the railway underpass and the intimate scale of each artist’s work. Between the tracks and the display cases, there was room for an intuitive decision.

The theme of the exhibition enabled each individual architect-artist to interact with colleagues from other like-minded associations, including: Ligne et Couleur (France), Ligne et Couleur in Stuttgart (Germany), the Scottish Society of Architect Artists (Scotland), Circolo Plener in Warsaw (Poland), and Architetti Artisti Romania. The exhibition provides an opportunity to show the city how artists from different countries and cultures have interpreted the assigned theme in accordance with their own artistic and professional sensibilities and experiences. The AAA Ligne et Couleur Prize for the year 2026 is awarded to engineer Lorenzo Jurina for his originality as an ‘engineer-artist’, where his consolidation work on historic buildings combines outstanding structural ingenuity with solutions of high artistic and architectural value. This extraordinary event, which sees the Association of Architects Artists at the heart of the cultural and artistic life of the city of Milan, was made possible thanks to our fellow architect artists Fabrizia Iacci and Giulia Minetti, curators of the exhibition, who worked with dedication and professionalism. The Association extends its special thanks to Camillo Dedori, President of the Le Belle Arti Association, APS, for his hospitality in the spaces of the Atelier della Fotografia e Contemporaneo and its display windows, Professor and artist Renato Galbusera, curator of the Atelier della Fotografia e Contemporaneo.

Our thanks go to all of us – architects and artists – who have always been inspired by a spirit of friendship that makes these events, here as in other European cities, joyful and fruitful opportunities for coming together.

Lucia Lazzarotto
Presidente della AAA-L&C
Associazione Architetti Artisti

Current exhibition