BAGATTI VALSECCHI MUSEUM
The Bagatti Valsecchi Museum combines several different architectural styles and historical periods, presenting fifteenth and sixteenth-century artifacts within a nineteenth century neo-Renaissance structure.
The museum hosts intimate conversations and thematic lectures, with multiple sessions occurring simultaneously in various rooms: the living room, bedroom, dining room, bathroom, and the library. This arrangement aims to foster an uninterrupted exchange of information across the space.
All of the sessions begin with a contextualization lecture by host ALICE RAWSTHORN who will illustrate how each room's typology has evolved historically, connecting these changes to broader shifts in social, political, and cultural landscapes.
LIVING ROOM SESSIONS
The sessions explore living rooms by assessing socio-economic histories, collective ownership configurations, and the impact of technological advancements and societal biases. These sessions aim to cultivate new perspectives on homemaking and explore alternative cohabitation models.
BEDROOM SESSIONS
The sessions discuss sleep as a socio-economic construct, navigating the tensions between the private sphere of the bedroom and other more public spaces, as well as the material and immaterial properties of the room.
DINING ROOM SESSIONS
The sessions analyze the communal nature of this space, examining how the dining room, alongside the kitchen, have shaped socio-economic norms and gender biases. The sessions look into domesticity and forms of gatherings as political resistance.
LIBRARY SESSIONS
The sessions explore relationships that extend beyond the household. Within a house, the library serves as a retreat for relaxation, contemplation, and reading, facilitating a journey outside the home's boundaries. The sessions will also investigate how film and literature serve as modes of exploring the natural world.
BATHROOM SESSIONS
The sessions look into the fluidity of this space, exploring feminist politics of leisure and labor, gender roles, hidden infrastructures shaping its dynamics, and new forms of healing and togetherness.