Discover LAC

On Thursday, December 13, 18 mobility students (15 incoming and 3 ESKAS Scholarship holders) joined the last social activity of this year: a comprehensive guided tour of the exhibition "Magritte, La Ligne de vie" at the new cultural center for visual arts, music and the performing arts LAC (Lugano Arte e Cultura).

From his early works through his most mature and iconic paintings, the MASI (Museo d’arte della Svizzera italiana) offers a unique exhibition on René Magritte career.

The exhibition is related to the conference that Magritte held in 1938 at the Musée Royal des Beaux-Arts in Antwerp, one of the rare occasions where the artist spoke about his work publicly. His lecture was entitled La Ligne de vie, and in hour, through twenty images, Magritte paid homage to those he got inspiration from. He also explained the genesis of his art and the foundations that allowed him to turn everyday objects into something provocative and sometimes disturbing.

In the guided tour, we came to understand his many sources of inspiration: from pre-surrealist and surrealist works to the international success that he reached in the last 20 years of his life, Magritte experimented many styles until he developed his very unique one. He also shot short videos with his intellectual friends, and worked for a short time as designer for advertising posters, something he found very boring, as he could not express himself freely. 

We learned that he led a very ordinary life and did not speak much about his work, which made his paintings even more mysterious and subject to many interpretations and speculations. He enjoyed playing with the percetion of reality, offered a visible manifestation of the mystery of the world, and played with words and images (word paintings), making them clash and questioning the match of names and objects. 

"An object is not so attached to his name that one cannot find for it another one which is more suitable [...] A word sometimes serves only to designate itself." (R. Magritte)

The activity concluded with some free time to further visit the exhibition and with a pizza dinner in the heart of Lugano, in the main Townhall Plaza, where the big Christmas tree and the Christmas Markets welcome locals and tourists for celebrations. 

The LAC

Describing LAC Lugano Arte e Cultura (Lugano Art and Culture) as a simple museum would be a true understatement. In addition to visual arts, this modern cultural centre (inaugurated in September 2015) is also devoted to music and the performing arts, serving as an important point of reference for the whole of Switzerland. Its aim is to promote a rich program of artistic events and to establish Lugano and Ticino in general as a cultural crossroads between Northern and Southern Europe. Situated in a breathtaking position overlooking the lake, the complex offers visitors a rich program of exhibitions, concerts, theatre and dance performances as well as an array of cultural initiatives and activities for youngsters and families alike.

LAC is home to the Museo d’arte della Svizzera italiana (the Art Museum of Italian Switzerland), the result of a partnership between the Cantonal Art Museum and the Art Museum of Lugano. Spread over three floors, it hosts temporary exhibitions, ‘site-specific’ installations and a permanent collection. The spaces of the new complex are further enriched by those of Palazzo Reali in via Canova, the current headquarters of the Cantonal Art Museum. The art museum at LAC is primarily devoted to exhibitions targeted at offering visitors an in-depth insight into Modern Art and contemporary research, while the spaces at Palazzo Reali are used to showcase works ranging from the beginning of the 15th century to the first half of the 20th century, with a particular focus on the region itself.

Description courtesy of https://www.ticinotopten.ch/en/museums/lac-lugano-arte-e-cultura

More about LAC: www.luganolac.ch