Careof and Viafarini are pleased to inaugurate their new exhibition spaces at the Fabbrica del Vapore with a joint exhibition dedicated to Liliana Moro, an international artist particularly connected to the city of Milan. Moro was not only born in the Lombard capital but continues to live and work in Milan. Before gaining international recognition with her participation in the 45th Venice Biennale in 1993 and Documenta IX in 1992 in Kassel (as well as a significant series of solo and group exhibitions at prestigious institutions worldwide, including the Castello di Rivoli in 1994, the Moderna Museet in Stockholm in 1998, the Stichting De Appel in Amsterdam in 1999, and the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art in San Francisco in 2005), the artist was also one of the driving forces behind one of the city’s most flourishing cultural seasons: founder, together with a group of artists—not a collective but a shared experience of growth and dialogue—of the magazine Tiracorrendo and the space on via Lazzaro Palazzi, she was also an early supporter of the two institutions now inaugurating their new challenge with her. For example, the manifesto chosen by Viafarini to represent her in 1991 was hers, as was the solo exhibition Careof hosted in 1997 at its historic Cusano Milanino venue.

This is the End, the provocative title chosen by Liliana Moro to evoke both an ending and a new beginning, gathers within an architectural structure—sharp and minimal—designed and conceived by the artist using the materials and construction expertise of Vibrapac, a series of early and recent works, both known and unpublished. The selection is not intended to follow a retrospective path through the artist’s decade-long career, but rather to offer a special perspective and a particular interpretive horizon on her work.

Walls with sharp edges, which do not define closed perimeters, enclose rooms whose access is either permitted or forbidden. They outline a clear form, a sculpture in itself, which is also an environment meant to host the uncertain movement of the viewer and the appearance of five works: sculptures, installations, and a neon sign, in an unbalanced yet unpredictable play of balances that revolves around an ideal center. Dispersion and concentration, inside and outside, luminous and sound suggestions, ambiguous simulacra, and erratic mechanisms are the key ingredients.

The wall itself takes on a symbolic role that transforms it from a simple architectural element into a citation with multiple meanings. It is the image of the many obstacles one encounters; it is the barrier to overcome if one wants to go beyond and discover what lies beyond; it is the limit everyone must face in everyday life; the filter between inside and outside, the shell that protects us from the world or the screen that prevents us from communicating with what is outside.

Careof and Viafarini offered Liliana Moro a neutral space, not yet divided into the two rooms that would later host their respective exhibition programs. Vibrapac allowed her to create a structure, both a work and a display mechanism, in the image and likeness of the journey and the works contained within it. Content and container, meaning and signifier in a calibrated and orchestrated unison.

With the patronage of Comune di Milano - Settore Tempo Libero

With the contribution of Fondazione Cariplo, Gemmo Spa, Vibrapac Spa