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About

Assab One is a non profit organisation founded by Elena Quarestani that aims at providing artists with a non-conventional environment for research and expression. Assab One produces and promotes exhibitions, events and art projects focusing on initiatives that integrate different languages capable of reaching beyond the art world.

Elena Quarestani

An editor and a journalist in a previous life Elena Quarestani has conceived, developed and edited magazines, encyclopaedias and partworks. It was only after her first exhibition in 2002 – considered a one-off event, a rite of passage for a former printing press establishment – that she decided to merge her passion for art and the building that hosted the family business.

Nathalie Du Pasquier, Facade Assab One, 2020, photo by Giovanni Hänninen

Location

Assab One is set in an industrial building that for forty years housed the well-known Milanese printing business GEA, Grafiche Editoriali Ambrosiane. It is here that books, art catalogues and encyclopaedias were printed for some of the biggest publishers in the world: and to ensure continuation to this past it was decided to leave a large part the structure in its original state, undertaking refurbishment of a purely conservational nature. The name comes from the street name and number the building is located on, a short walk from the Cimiano underground station in the via Padova neighbourhood. This area is testimony to the many waves of immigration that have taken place, from southern Italy in the post-war period and, more recently, from the Southern Hemisphere.

Assab, the name of an African port, has thus become symbol of a meeting place where exchanges take place between different individuals, realities and cultures: Assab One, an idyllic, tangible space, open to the neighbourhood and to the city, in constant dialogue with artists and with associated initiatives and institutions in Italy and the world.

Collaborations

Institutions

AA Londra, ACACIA Associazione Amici Arte Contemporanea, Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, Art for the World, British Council Italia, ISR – Centro Culturale Svizzero di Milano, Casino di Sarmenta, Centre Culturel Français de Milan, Centro di ricerca ASK – Università Bocconi, Cinema del Reale – Specchiapreti (LE), Comune di Milano – Assessorato Cultura e Musei, Comune di Milano – Settore Sport e Giovani, Comunidad de Madrid – Consejería de Cultura y Turismo, Culture Ireland, Dena Foundation for Contemporary Art – Parigi, Esterni, Fondazione Antonio Ratti di Como, Fondazione Svizzera per la Cultura Pro Helvetia, Fotografia Europea, ICALab – Politecnico di Milano, IED, ISBN, Joseph and Albers Foundation, KINGS, Kunstverein (Milano), Libreria The Standard, Liceo Artistico Caravaggio di Milano, MiArt, NABA, Politecnico di Milano, Provincia di Milano – Assessorato Cultura, Culture e Integrazione, Scuola d’Arte Drammatica “Paolo Grassi”, Triennale di Milano, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Creative industrie Fund NL, Flanders State of the Art

Galleries

Antonio Colombo Arte Contemporanea, Christian Stein, Ciocca Arte Contemporanea, Conduits, Enrico Fornello di Prato, Galerie Davide Gallo, Galerie Mario Mazzoli di Berlino, Galleria 1000eventi, Galleria Maniera, Giuseppe Pero, Kerlin Gallery, Kewenig, Le Case d’Arte, Nowhere Gallery, Riccardo Crespi, Rubicon Gallery di Dublino, S p a z i o A contemporanearte di Pistoia, Studio Giangaleazzo, Trolley Gallery di Londra, Visconti di Milano, Galerie Peter Kilchmann, APalazzo Gallery.

Artists and curators

A Constructed World, Abbominevole, Marina Abramovich, Carla Accardi, Stefano Adamo, Rebecca Agnes, Nicoletta Agostini, Mario Airò,  Gaia Alessi, Kristine Alksne, Alice Anderson, Pedro Andrade, Meris Angioletti, Mario Apone, Pennacchio Argentato, Stefano Arienti, Paola Arrigoni, Ivano Atzori, Riccardo Bagnoli, Marina Ballo Charmet, Simona Barbera, Andrea Belfi, Elisabetta Benassi, Riccardo Benassi, Alessia Bernardini, Alessandro Bertante, Davide Bertocchi, Luca Bertolo, Maura Biava, Cesare Biratoni, Enrico Boccioletti, Dafne Boggeri, Enrica Borghi, Tille Bortolotti, Louise Bourgeois, Richard Bradbury, Perez Bravo, Sarra Brill, Mauro Brovelli, Alessandro Bulgini, Sam Buxton, Vincenzo Cabiati, Pedro Cabrita Reis, Pierluigi Calignano, Sophie Calle, Chiara Camoni, Guido Canziani, Roberto Caracciolo, Gianni Caravaggio, Letizia Cariello, Claire Carpenter, Loris Cecchini, Paolo Chiasera, Lucia Ciocia, Oliver Clegg, Gianluca Codeghini, Elena Cologni, Alessandro Coppola, Joseph Cornell, Emilio Corti, Ermanno Cristini, David Crone, Maria Crosti, Fede Cruz, Leonel Cunha, Shezad Dawood, Fabiana de Barros, Massimo De Caria, Alessio de Girolamo, Michele De Lucchi, Flavio de Marco, Gabriele De Santis, Destiny Deacon, Antonella Decorato, Marta Dell’Angelo, Mario Dellavedova, Stanislao Di Giugno, Gabriele Di Matteo, Christoph Draeger, Nathalie Du Pasquier, Mme Duplok, Effetto Larsen, Sara Enrico, Chung Eun Mo, Federico Farci, Roberto Fassone, Matteo Fato, Lara Favaretto, Michel Favre, Marco Fedele di Catrano, Maurizio Feletig, Simonetta Ferrante, Francesca Fiorella, Sylvie Fleury, Francesco Fonassi, Joao Fonte, Anna Franceschini, Marina Fulgeri, architecten jan de vylder inge vinck/inge vinck Jan De Vylder architecten, Martin Gale, Stefania Galegati, Tom Gallant,Anna Galtarossa, Martino Gamper, Rainer Ganahl, Armida Gandini, Gionata Gesi, Massimo Giacon, Christoph Girardet, Mery Glez, Globalgroove, Goldiechiari, Agnes Goldmann, Daniel Gonzalez, Nuala Goodman, Paul Goodwin, Pamela Gorman, Richard Gorman, Sheila Gorman, Bernard Graff, Stephane Graff, Laurent Grasso, Kathy Grayson, Chiara Graziani, Johanna Grawunder, Francesca Grilli, Massimo Grimaldi, Giuliano Grittini, Sabine Groß, Alice Guareschi, Giorgio Guidi, Pino Guidolotti, Giovanni Hänninen, Ellen Harvey, Mona Hatoum, Christoph Hefti, Silvia Hell, Harald Hermann, Jin Hirosawa, Heidrun Holzfeind, Andrew Leslie, Hooker, Roni Horn, Henry Hudson, Ronnie Hughes, Bridget Hugo, Felix Humm, Friedrick Hundertwasser, Inkyung Hwang, Sebastiano Impellizzeri, Daniele Innamorato,  Jeroen Jacobs, Bijoy Jain, Rob Johannesma, Eithne Jordan, Charles Kaisin, Markus Keibel, Jannis Kounellis, Maurizio L’Altrella, Giulio Lacchini, Chris Larson, Francesco Lauretta, Louise Lawler, Jorge Leal, Tullio Leggeri, Riccardo Legnani, Lucas Lenglet, Zilla Leutenegger, Corrado Levi, Roisin Lewis, Salvatore Licitra, Deborah Ligorio, Armin Linke, Robert Lippok, Studio Liquido, Loredana Longo, Eva Lootz, Claudia Losi, Sergio Lovati, Stefano Lupatini, Urs Luthi, Anthony Lyttle, Alastair Mackie, Daniele Maffeis, Alan Maglio, Coralla Maiuri, Chiaki Maki, Antoni Malinowski, Silvio Mancini, Domenico Mangano, Eva Marisaldi, Amedeo Martegani, Manuela Martines, Yamamoto Masao, Enrica Massei, Andrea Mastrovito, Jürgen Mayer H., Costanza Mazzotti, Alessandro Mencarelli, Marcello Mencarini, Maurizio Mercuri, Carola Merello, Marzia Migliora, Yuuka Miyajima, Ottonella Mocellin, Concetta Modica, Ryts Monet, Marissa Morelli, Polly Morgan, Margherita Morgantin, Liliana Moro, Nicoletta Morozzi Branzi, Ignazio Mortellaro, Angelo Mosca, Elisa Mossa, Maurizio Nannucci, Warren Neidich, Eléna Nemkova, Shirin Neshat, Carsten Nicolai, Olaf Nicolai, Sandrine Nicoletta, Giancarlo Norese, Jyunko Ogaw, Studio Ossidiana, Catherine Opie, Dennis Oppenheim, Mikael Paananen, Emmanuelle Pacini, Fabio Paleari, Laura Palmieri, Federica Pamio, Luca Pancrazzi, Pedro Pascoinho, Daniele Papuli, Pentagram & Friends, Federico Pepe, Lucia Pescador, Federica Perazzoli, Renato Perego, Studio Permanente,  Stefano Peroli, Alessandro Piangiamore, Gabriele Picco, Donato Piccolo, Steve Piccolo, Federico Pietrella, Giuseppe Pietroniro, Andrea Pitzalis, Luigi Presicce, Riccardo Previdi,  Luca Quartana, Luisa Rabbia, Letizia Ragno, Philippe Rahm, Thomas Raimondi, Marco Raperelli, Augustine Rebetez, Max Rommel, Emiliano Rubinacci, Ruggge, Guendalina Salini, Remo Salvadori, Corrado Sassi, Boo Saville, Maurizio Savini, Paola Savoldi, Vito Scamarcia, Luca Scarabelli, Carlos Seabra, Martin Sexton, Jamie Shovlin, Shuko, Marcello Simeone, Francesco Simeti, Maddalena Sisto, Pasquale Sorrentino, George Sowden, Caretto/Spagna, Michele Spanghero, Donatella Spaziani, Alessandra Spranzi, Annie Sprinkle, Fausta Squatriti, Elisa Strinna, Linda Tallroth, Luca Trevisani, Nicola Troilo, Tutamondo, Charles Tyrrell, Arianna Vairo, Fabio Valentini, Marcella Vanzo, Vedovamazzei, Velasco Vitali, Luca Vitone, Warburghiana, Wolfgang Weileder, Susanne Weirich,  Hugo Wilson, Peter Wuethrich, Olimpia Zagnoli, Stefano Zotti, Cino e Chiara Zucchi, Italo Zuffi.

 

Curators:

Eugenio Alberti Schatz, Katia Anguelova, Lorenzo Benedetti, Giampiero Bosoni, Andrea Bruciati, Claire Burrus, Guia Cortassa, Anna Daneri, Bettina Della Casa, Michela Eremita, Samuel Fuyumi Namioka, Pietro Gaglianò, Laura Garbarino, Elio Grazioli, Andrea Lissoni, Rossella Menegazzo, Martina Merlini, Ico Migliore, Stefania Nano, Francesca Pasini, Marco Peano, Roberto Pinto, Alessandra Piolotto, Alessandra Pioselli, James Putnam, Marta Sironi, Federica Sala, Marco Sammicheli, Pier Luigi Tazzi, Arianna Vairo, Giorgio Vasta, Giorgio Verzotti, Giorgio Zanchetti.