Shaping Space as a Community Act: Gianni Pettena's Radical Installation at BiM Milan

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 the traditional perception of space, making it an open and modifiable element through participation. Over fifty years later, the installation is 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, now hosts the work and invites the public to become active participants through shared moments.

The installation comprises a myriad of white paper strips – 49 km in total – suspended from the ceiling and reaching the floor, forming a dense paper jungle to be entered. For Milano Art Week 2026, during the opening on April 14th, Gianni Pettena intervened in the work by cutting the paper strips and navigating through it on a personal journey. He then invited the public to arm themselves with scissors and follow suit, embracing the unpredictable outcome of the performance. "The thinking 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 viewing architecture as an immutable shield. Pettena, as early as the 1970s, conceived of these paper strips, inviting students to 'cut out' their own space through interaction with it, through community activations. The public also becomes an active performer with these scissors. It's an invitation to find one's own space and reclaim it. To appropriate it, even in a rebellious way. Gianni Pettena has always been a 'rebel' throughout his career and research."

The historic installation, under the title Paper/Northern Lights for this occasion, features an intervention curated by Specific, a 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 slowly flows across the paper strips, generating movement and adding an unprecedented element to Pettena's work. This is described as a "luminous breath" by 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 Milano Art Week and simultaneously mark the beginning of Milano Design Week, serving as an ideal bridge between two of the city's most dynamic weeks. The evening commences at 7 PM, with Gianni Pettena's performance scheduled from 7:30 PM to 8 PM, followed by a DJ set and open bar on the ground floor of the Bicocca Pavilion from 10 PM onwards. Paper/Northern Lights will be viewable by reservation until May 31st, 2026.