My Italian Link - Issue #09 My Italian Link Issue #09 | Page 50

50
C U LT U R E
Housed in a former industrial block,
the Museo delle Culture
(Museum of Cultures, or MUDEC)
in Milan showcases historical
encounters between Italy
and the rest of the world.
MUDEC is both a museum
and a gathering place, where
arts and civil society meet
to define the world of tomorrow.
1
MUDEC MUSEUM
ART AND CRAFTS AT MILAN’S
CROSS-CULTURAL CENTRE
--
A GLOBAL WATCHTOWER DIALOGUE FOR TOMORROW
The Museum of Cultures is the perfect frame for
Modigliani’s work. At MUDEC, arts and crafts from
the five continents are in dialogue and narrate the
history of a world converging, in Italy, on the cradle
of classical and modern thinking.
Italy’s response to the discovery of distant cultures
is best described by five aspects: wonder at the
exotic (section 1); evangelisation and scientific dis-
covery (section  2); colonisation (section  3); and
commerce (sections 4 and 5). Sections 6 and 7 are
an important testimony from World  War  II and
contemporary history, as they portray the modern
developments of ethnography and intercultural plat-
forms in a shrinking world.
The museum displays different forms of visual and
performance art, music, design and attire. Its objec-
tive is "the research, collection and protection of the
expressions of material and immaterial culture of the
non-European populations" (MUDEC Mission). The exercise of ethnographic investigation at
MUDEC does not end in frozen expressions of
human communication put on a pedestal or within a
frame on a wall. It rather develops from the establi-
shed artwork into a big bang of new trends.
Workshops, seminars and presentations for all are a
daily feature, and aim at conquering and moulding
the depth of visual expressions in the ever-changing
framework of history and geography.
With the support of the city of Milan and Associa-
zione Città Mondo (World City Forum), MUDEC orga-
nises conferences and shows to create awareness
about ethnicity, gender, urban development and ci-
tizenship. The forum groups the collective work of
over 500 associations worldwide and safeguards art
and performance globally.
51