With the exhibition Un altro sguardo. Works from the Gemma Testa Collection, curated by Gabriella Belli, Gemma De Angelis Testa and Marta Spanevello, FAI periodically brings important private art collections to the exhibition spaces of Villa e Collezione Panza: other collections that reveal “other perspectives” compared to that of Giuseppe Panza di Biumo, which is so precisely reflected in the permanent collection of Villa Panza and in the layout he himself created, making this place exemplary in telling the story of who a collector is and what it means to collect.

The exhibition offers a chance to experience works by leading figures in contemporary art, some of which have never before been shown to the public—including pieces that differ greatly from the style that defines the Panza Collection, which remains on display in the historic house-museum. FAI’s intention is that this juxtaposition should spark a natural dialogue—not so much between the two collections or the personalities behind them, but between two approaches, two visions, two ways of collecting. Distinct as they are, they are united by an inexhaustible passion for knowledge and an unwavering pursuit of quality—drives that motivate every collector, but which also serve more broadly as virtues capable of teaching and inspiring anyone who engages with art and culture.

Another look at art

The exhibition Un altro sguardo is therefore the existential imprint of Gemma De Angelis, founder of ACACIA (Associazione Amici Arte Contemporanea Italiana), who sought in art a tool to investigate man and the reality he inhabits.

By collecting and selecting voices and stories from around the world, the collector has given shape to an important collection of works that recount the present and its transformations.

This vision is conveyed and given concrete form in the exhibition through thirty-nine works from the collector's private collection, some of which are on display for the first time, including works by great artists such as Cy Twombly, Robert Rauschenberg, Francesco Vezzoli, Shirin Neshat, Marina Abramović, William Kentridge, Andres Serrano, Cecily Brown and Ai Weiwei.

The main core, consisting of works from the private collection, is complemented by significant loans from the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, which in 2022 received a donation of 107 works from the collector, and from the Museo del Novecento in Milan, whose collection is enriched year after year thanks to the contribution of the ACACIA Association, which, through its Prize for Young Italian Artists, has already donated 39 works by 27 different artists.

The exhibition, divided into eleven sections, intertwines Gemma Testa's personal experiences with her collecting choices. Each room interprets the collector's lines of research and interests: from the gestural and free expression of pure painting to the analytical and conceptual elaboration of thought, from the condition of women to issues of identity, memory, censorship and politics.