The voice of the Adda

Leonardo and the civilization of water. Milan, Cremona, Sondrio Until 27 December 2019 - Casa dell’Energia e dell’Ambiente - Piazza Po, 3 - Milan Curated by Alberto Martinelli and Fabrizio Trisoglio

With the reopening of its historical archives, Fondazione AEM celebrates the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci with a photographic and audiovisual exhibition about the Adda River, titled “The voice of the Adda. Leonardo and the civilization of water. Milano, Cremona, Sondrio.”

The exhibition itinerary, through photographs reproduced on panels and films from the historical archives of Fondazione AEM, accompanies visitors along the course of the river. It starts from the source of the Adda in the Retic Alps, in Valtellina, and reaches Cremona through images of major hydroelectric installations of the former municipal utility of Milan, including some true masterpieces of industrial archaeology; the images also feature views of the territory and the mountain context, nature, technology and agriculture.

Exhibits include works by outstanding artists like Antonio Paoletti, Guglielmo Chiolini, Gianni Berengo Gardin, Francesco Radino, Luigi Bussolati, ranging from rare images of the second half of the 1800s of Fondo Vismara, photographs from the 1930s and the 1950s, all the way to the variegated Fondo Contemporaneo of the 1980s and the more recent photography projects commissioned by Fondazione AEM.

The exhibition also includes original cartographic documents from the Department of Civil Engineering of Sondrio, and artistic depictions of the course of the Adda River by Albano Marcarini, as well as quotations and literary references to the territory, culminating in reflections on the civilization of water and Milan, with the fundamental role played by the city’s system of canals.