In 1971, at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, radical designer Gianni Pettena, along with his students, first activated Paper, an installation designed to subvert traditional perceptions of space, transforming it into an open and malleable element through participation. More than fifty years later, the installation is being exhibited in its entirety and re-adapted within the spaces of BiM – Dove Bicocca incontra Milano. This urban regeneration project, with an entrance at Viale Piero e Alberto Pirelli 10, hosts the artwork and invites the public to become active participants through shared moments.
The installation comprises a myriad of white paper strips – 49 km in total – hanging from the ceiling and reaching the floor, creating a dense paper jungle to enter. For Milan Art Week 2026, during the opening on April 14th, Gianni Pettena intervened on the artwork by cutting the paper strips and traversing the interior with his personal journey, ultimately inviting the public to arm themselves with scissors and follow suit, embracing the unpredictability of the performance’s outcome. “The core idea behind the collaboration with Gianni Pettena stems from the desire to reflect not only on space itself but on the space of communities,” explains Davide Giannella, the exhibition’s curator. “We are accustomed to thinking of architecture as an immutable shield. Pettena, as far back as the 1970s, conceived of these paper strips, inviting students to ‘cut out’ their own space through interaction with it, fostering community activations. The public also becomes an active performer through these scissors. It’s an invitation to find one’s own space and reclaim it. To appropriate it, even in an undisciplined manner. Gianni Pettena has always been an ‘undisciplined’ figure throughout his career and research.”
On this occasion, the historic installation is titled Paper/Northern Lights and features an intervention curated by Specific, the collective founded by artists Patrick Tuttofuoco and Andrea Sala, director Nic Bello, and food designer Alessandra Pallotta. The artwork is illuminated by a light that flows slowly over the paper strips, generating movement and adding an unprecedented dimension to Pettena’s work. This is described as a “luminous breath,” in the words of Patrick Tuttofuoco, an expressive possibility that expands the relationship between architecture, space, and performative intervention.
Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 18th, when Paper/Northern Lights will be the centerpiece of the Milano Art Week Party. This public event will animate the spaces of BiM, its piazza, the Bicocca Pavilion, and the area hosting Pettena’s work. The party will celebrate the closing of Milan Art Week and simultaneously mark the beginning of Milan Design Week, serving as an ideal bridge between two of the most dynamic weeks on the city’s calendar. The evening begins at 7 PM, with Gianni Pettena’s performance scheduled from 7:30 PM to 8 PM, followed by a DJ set and open bar from 10 PM on the ground floor of the Bicocca Pavilion. Paper/Northern Lights will be available for visits by reservation until May 31, 2026.
