This is not a birthday, not a celebration, not a commemoration. Summer has been over for a while, and this time was necessary to build a thought and reflection around what Careof, a non-profit institution in Milan, is and has represented since 1987 to today.

Until a few months ago, the alarm of an end sounded like the only and definitive alternative. This reflection, shared with many of you, however generated a change of perspective that led Careof, while contemplating the need for renewal, to welcome new members and new urgencies, not to set aside the historical work accomplished so far, but to give it a new identity and strategy.

Taking Careof is, first of all, a project. Then a suggestion, an open question, an exhibition, a party, an apotropaic gesture. It is the bonfire lit at the end of the year as a propitiatory act, it is the carnival that transgresses the roles assigned by everyday life. It is the challenge that Careof has chosen to take on, at the moment when it decided not to close, but to restart. How? By asking itself questions.

What is Careof? What does it want to become? How to take care of it?

Taking Careof opens this reflection and lays the foundations for a longer process aimed at redefining the roles and objectives that a cultural institution must have today, starting from its social as well as artistic function, and from the need to adapt to or dissociate from the times of politics, society, and culture.
We have thus decided to celebrate with you by inviting you to participate in this first act, with the hope of gradually involving you in the renewal process.

On December 17, Careof will be a space set up for the party: there will be drinks, food, and dancing. You will have the opportunity to purchase a role (the membership), a service (events and dinners at the residencies scheduled from January 2014), and a series of books arranged for the occasion, both old and new (the new bookshop), thus helping to lighten the heavy finances that need to be revived.

Taking Careof is the common thread around which the new programming and structure will revolve, incorporating the wealth accumulated over these more than 25 years of history to develop a new identity.

We have commissioned some artists and curators the essentials to make you feel comfortable and surprise you:

the bar and seating (AUT/StudioErrante Architetture/Andrea Tomasi), the graphics (AUT), the first Careof membership card (Stefano Arienti), the DJ set (PalmWine/Francesco Tenaglia), a curated book selection (Saul Marcadent), the practical library (Maël Veisse/Viaindustriae), the archive totem (directly from the Careof archive).

A transformed space that announces, through visual appearances, goals and projects for the coming year, clarified by the formalization of objects, images, and words. An expanded press release, which puts Careof back at the center of an important reflection to share and circulate. Throughout January, this space will remain active, accessible, and open to host and promote meetings, lectures, presentations, screenings.

Come in large numbers, come all.

Media partners That's Contemporary and ATP Diary

Technical sponsors Bricoman, Pandora, Il Muretto srl, Brancaccio Costruzioni, Costruzioni Zanotti srl.

A special thanks to: Stefano Arienti, Sarah Becchio, Riccardo Berrone, Simone Bertuzzi, Paolo Borghino, Federico Bovara, Luca Coppola, Saul Marcadent, Francesco Tenaglia, Andrea Tomasi. Thanks to Daniele Abbate, Paolo Bormida, Claudio Campeggi, Frank Cinque, Massimo Cutini, Tullio Leggeri, Rinaldo Lucchetta, Mr. Luongo, Gabriele Naia, Lucio Pecchini, Silvano Persico, Carlo Venegoni.

Libros Mutantes (Madrid), NERO (Rome), Mousse publishing (Milan), Kaleidoscope (Milan), Taube Edition (Zurich), Bookworks (London), Fortino editions (Verona/Miami), INDEX (Vienna);

Francesco Bertocco, Sara Cattaneo, Tommaso Collini, Monica Favara, Francesco Gambini, Giulia Grappoli, Orestis Mavroudis, Paola Pesconi, Giovanni Pippia, Martina Raponi, Marta Staffiere, Fabrizio Vatieri, Mauro Vignando.

Thanks to all those who subscribed to the membership and participated in the evening.