Competition

The Museum Studio Francesco Messina The building that today hosts the “Francesco Messina” Museum is the same that the Artist choose as his own studio in 1970. It is the converted church of San Sisto al Carrobbio, very close to Torino street, in the heart of Milan’s old roman neighborhood. It was chosen by the artist himself, while looking for a permanent home - where he could exhibit permanently - for his pieces of art, also as a sign of profound gratitude toward the city of Milan that had been his home for more than forty years and that awarded him with honorary citizeship, three times. The initial core of the Museum Studio “Francesco Messina” collection is formed by a group of around forty sculptures, given by the artist to the Municipality of Milan. Among them, you can be find some of Messina’s masterpieces, like the terracotta Pugilatore, also exhibited at the Biennale di Venezia in 1932, or Nuotatore (1935-58) and Bambino al mare (1935). The Museum Studio “Francesco Messina” represents an innovative exhibition space, open to research and experimentations also, able to host young emergings artists’ works.

Short history background

According to old records, the foundation of San Sisto church dates back to VIII century, build by Langobardians king Desiderio. Today’s building configuration is attributable to the first half of 1600. During the first half of the 19th century, the church was being enriched with some architectural and artistics elements. Afterwards it was irreversibly hit by war, bringing to an end its religious mission. For many years the building was closed and abandoned. In 1950 Milan Municipality begun a never ending restoration process, because of an unclear destination for this space. Francesco Messina proposed to restore the building as his artist’s studio, on his own, in exchange for using the space. In the following years the artist brought many changes to the building, mainly to the interiors. A new basement was built, with a wide entrance, linking the space to the central nave of the church. The old rectory’s ground floor was transformed, opening on the facing square, while the top floor became the artist’s residence. The whole central part of the building became a sculpture production and storage area. When Messina died in 1995, the Municipality of Milan inherited the unfinished artist’s museum.

Exhibitions

Now in its fourth edition, the TMD Competition, is the first and only example in the field of green design that investigates the use of raw earth, Prima Materia, in the furniture industry and everyday objects. Both designers and experts of the raw earth material are invited to participate in the call for proposals to develop ideas ranging from selfproduction to Industrial Design.
• Projects and maquettes TMD 2019 Contest and previous winning projects
• Museum Houses in Raw Earth
• Japanese Earth Design
• Award-Program as cultural training TMD 2018
• BION European Project and ASF Architetti Senza Frontiere International Cooperation
• Materials and tools of the craft

Competition

Now in its fourth edition, the TMD Competition, is the first and only example in the field of green design that investigates the use of raw earth, Prima Materia, in the furniture industry and everyday objects. Both designers and experts of the raw earth material are invited to participate in the call for proposals to develop ideas ranging from selfproduction to Industrial Design.

Workshop

The workshop represents the moment to meet and share knowledge between the magister artis and all participants to the competition. It takes place during the FuoriSalone days inside the Francesco Messina Museum, in parallel to the other planned initiatives.

Laboratories for young people

The laboratory is the time dedicated to children, aged from 6 to 66 years, for them to get in touch with the clay and to play freely to create any kind of object with raw earth. Japanese culture has developed various ways to transfer the “know-how to do” that are independent from personal skills:
• Hikaru Dorodango (glossy spheres made of earth): it consists in the realization of clay spheres which, when suitably worked, take on a marble aspect.
• Clay painting: starting from the natural colors of different land fields – stabilized by natural fixatives – children are stimulated to work on a theme, giving free reins to their pictorial creativity.
• Constructions: with different clay mixtures children can make small bricks using a toy press. The interlocking geometry of the bricks that are produced then allows the realization of various constructions.

Conferences

In recent years, the involvement of architecture and design professionals - well known in the field of raw earth - and the close collaboration with the Polytechnic of Milan have marked meeting events of international stature. University research, architectural design and contemporary design on raw earth are covered in depth, to be fruited on different levels. All contributions have always been confirmed by technical-scientific publications and by a more popular kind of publication, like the recent edition of the book TERRA Magazine.

Japan Program

Japan Program Competition awards are granted and meant as opportunities for cultural enrichment. The award program to Japan, organized and sponsored by GEN (Genuine Education Network), is an unforgettable occasion to learn about historical and contemporary architecture, about restoration and new construction sites and about interior design interventions in raw earth and other aspects of the Japanese culture. This year, in addition to new routes in Japan, study trips will also be offered over the Italian territory to discover the heritage of raw earth (Nuovo Grand Tour). These cultural paths have provided, over the years, the contents of various exhibitions and publications.

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