On the occasion of the Contemporary Art Day, on Saturday, October 10 at 3:00 pm, Fondazione Furla and GAM, Milan invite the public to a free guided tour of the exhibition “One Palm Closer to the Sky” by Shilpa Gupta, curated by Bruna Roccasalva.
A journey through the artist’s multidisciplinary practice which—spanning sculpture, sound installation, and performance—weaves a dialogue with the museum’s artworks and historic spaces, exploring the tension between singularity and collectivity, intimacy and the public sphere.
The eighth edition of the “Furla Series” programme, the exhibition features a series of new productions that reflect some of the pivotal themes of Gupta’s practice: her interest in language and text, active audience engagement, the reworking of everyday objects, and the ability to spark short circuits between art and life, also through interventions that move beyond institutional spaces to enter the public sphere.
The project is part of the artist’s broader exploration into the relationship between the individual and the systems of control that condition existence, as well as how media, language, and institutions contribute to shaping our perception of ourselves and the world. Within this inquiry, “One Palm Closer to the Sky” focuses particularly on the enduring sense of hope that, following generations of struggles for freedom, continues to persist even as it appears to falter today in the face of rising authoritarian tendencies on a global scale.
Through Shilpa Gupta’s work, which critically questions narratives of identity, belonging, and borders, GAM’s nineteenth-century collection—testimony to a historical era in which these concepts took shape—enters into dialogue with the tensions of the present.
Setting out from the museum courtyard and unfolding across the five ground-floor galleries, the exhibition offers an overview of Shilpa Gupta’s practice, highlighting her ability to transform research into experience and to turn art into a tool for critical inquiry and reflection capable of opening up spaces for listening, imagination, and dialogue.
“One Palm Closer to the Sky” by Shilpa Gupta is part of the multi-year partnership between Fondazione Furla and GAM – Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Milan, which since 2021 has presented an annual, unprecedented exhibition project designed to bring contemporary art into dialogue with the museum’s historic spaces and permanent collection.
“Furla Series” is the project through which Fondazione Furla has been committed, since 2017, to presenting exhibitions in collaboration with leading Italian art institutions, featuring an all-female programme conceived to celebrate and promote the fundamental contribution of women artists to contemporary culture.
