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Luciano Fabro: Abitare lo spazio. Inhabiting Space
Retrospective of Luciano Fabro in the Navate: about fifty sculptures and installations, many rebuilt as environmental "habitats", tracing his five-decade inquiry into space and perception.
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You lift a white canvas shell off the floor, duck underneath and stand up inside In cubo, a 1966 work Fabro sized to his own height and arm span. His body isn't yours, so the show has made five versions for you to find the one that fits. It is, in effect, a fitting room for a room.
Around 50 works fill the Navate, grouped by idea rather than date. The core is the first rebuild of the Habitat Fabro made for Rotterdam in 1981: about 1,100 square metres of corridors walled in accordion-folded white paper, crossed by whatever route you like. The show starts with Lo spirato, a marble bed sheet that keeps only the dent of a head, and ends in the Cubo with a six-metre structure hung on three levels.
Entry is free, and booking an online time slot gets you priority. Some rooms ration access: one person at a time in the mirrored cube of Allestimento teatrale, two in the Sala Pentagonale.
Editor's pick
Lift a white canvas shell, duck under and stand up inside In cubo, made to Fabro's height and arm span, in five sizes so one fits you. Then 1,100 square metres of folded-paper corridors, his 1981 Habitat rebuilt.
Look for
In cubo, in five sizes
Lift the white canvas box and step under it: outside sounds go muffled, light filters through the fabric, and only the floor side is open.
Io, the bronze egg
At the centre of the Habitat, a 70 kg hollow egg of Fabro curled up, his hands' imprints in relief on the gilded inside, weighing what he did.
Il pupo in the Sala Pentagonale
A fan wrapped in old swaddling clothes that vibrates like breathing; mediators hand you gloves to hold it, under an upside-down iron Italy.
The mirrored cube of Allestimento teatrale
Slide open one side and step in alone to see yourself multiplied; on weekends from 3:30 to 4:30pm an actor reads Fabro's texts.
Eclissi di cielo
A green onyx sphere with glowing veins, squeezed between two black marble blocks dotted with a gold star map, shown here for the first time.
Good for
- Cheap Culture
- Nerding Out
- Out-Of-Town Guests
Skip if
You want paintings: this is sculpture, mirrors and walk-in rooms built from paper and fabric.
With kids
Children are welcome but must be held by the hand throughout, and the works can't be touched. Weekend workshops for ages 4 to 12 tie in with the current shows.
Also at Pirelli HangarBicocca
On now nearby
Image credits
5
- Luciano Fabro: Abitare lo spazio. Inhabiting SpaceCourtesy of Pirelli HangarBicocca
- Mona Hatoum: Over, under and in betweenPh. Roberto Marossi, Courtesy Fondazione Prada
- Pina Bausch, Le Sacre du printempsCourtesy of Museo Teatrale alla Scala
- Photo Grant Deloitte 2026Courtesy of Triennale Milano
- Pirelli HangarBicoccaSilvana Gallio / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0