Discovering Bicocca: 1450-2013

The history of the Bicocca district stretches back over 500 years, from the construction of the Bicocca degli Arcimboldi, which gave the district its name, through to the industrial and post-industrial age. Today, this part of the city has become a place of inspiration, services and culture. Thanks to HangarBicocca, the outstanding contemporary-art centre, to the Fondazione Pirelli, which preserves and promotes the memory of the company and of its places, and to its University and the Teatro degli Arcimboldi, the Bicocca district receives tens of thousands of people every day. They experience what it has to offer but not all of them really know about its identity and history.
For two weeks, Pirelli – which has its headquarters and research centres here – is transforming Bicocca into a world to be explored in space and time, with a series of fun discovery events that link up its many places and moments.
Discovering Bicocca: 1450-2013 is a project that includes bike rides, film premieres, activities and games for kids and adults. It involves the people of the city in an exciting journey that offers new visions of an area of Milan which is still waiting to be explored to the full.
All the activities are free of charge

MAY 4th
11.15am
HB Kids – Our Noah’s Ark (4-6 years)
Where: HB / Max. 15 participants / 90’
Children will embark on an unusual journey in search of strange animals, unlike any other, that inhabit the countless illustrated stories in the HB Kids library. In a world of coloured elephants, blue dogs and piglets in jacket and tie, the kids will be able to invent their own favourite animal, creating fantastic new species.

3.30pm
HB Kids – Coloured stories (6-8 years)
Where: HB / Max. 20 participants / 90’
Taking inspiration from the stories on colours by great artists, children will enjoy creating a book with their own hands. Not only will they make a book as an object, but they will choose all the contents, playing with the theory of colours, forms and emotions, and not only with words.

MAY 5th
11.15am
HB Kids – So How Do I See the World? (6-8 years)
Where: HB / Max. 20 participants / 90’
Great contemporary artists show us their original vision of the world, using techniques that are very different one from the other but that manage to enhance the objective reality we have before our eyes. By travelling through contemporary art, we can discover together our favourite way of seeing the world!

3.30pm
HB Kids – Sun, rain and… (4-6 years)
Where: HB / Max. 15 participants / 90’
On a fun path of images and suggestions, children will make a book in which the use of paper and different materials will be the key to illustrating – through their imagination – a day of rain, a sunny afternoon or … it’s up to them!

6.00pm
Cinema Discovery – Nim’s Island (starting from 7 years old)
USA, 2008, colour, 94’, directed by Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin
Where: HB / Free entrance on a first come first served base
Little Nim, who is stranded on a lost island with her animal friends, Fred the iguana, Chica the turtle and Selke the sea lion, writes an e-mail to her hero Alex Rover, the literary protagonist of the most astounding adventures. She asks him to help her find her father, who has disappeared in mysterious circumstances. In actual fact, Alex Rover is Alexandra, the author of books about the valiant but non-existent adventurer, who will have to overcome all her deepest fears and race off to help her little penfriend…

MAY 9th
9pm
Artist’s Choice: La fabbrica sospesa
Where: HB / Free entrance on a first come first served base
Italy, 1987, colour, 45’, directed by Silvio Soldini
At the beginning of the transformation of the Bicocca area, the film director Silvio Soldini tells the story of Pirelli through the memories of workers and office staff who spent their lives working in the Milan-based factory. Archive materials alternate with conversion projects and the voices of the protagonists in a documentary that conveys all the commitment and passion of the people and corporate values that have always been based on innovation and on the promotion of talent. What we see is an essential part of the city’s industrial past, which will also be explored in an exhibition of eleven stunning photos by the late Gabriele Basilico from the Fondazione Pirelli. The great photographer achieved immense fame partly through the poetic vein with which he immortalised industrial architecture.

MAY 11th
11.15am
HB Kids – It Takes a Tree to Make a Tyre (4-6 years)
Where: HB / Max. 15 participants / 90’
What do those huge Brazilian trees have in common with Formula One racing tyres? Let’s find out together in a fascinating adventure that will take us into the worlds of nature and industry, ending with a fantastic adventure of fun and creativity.

3.30pm
HB Kids – What If I Could Fresco My Room? (6-8 years)
Where: HB / Max. 15 participants / 120’
How did they illustrate stories back in 1400? Let’s find out together on a journey through time to discover the mysterious “Ladies’ Hall” in the Bicocca degli Arcimboldi and let’s turn ourselves into expert fresco painters for a day! This activity includes a short guided excursion to the Bicocca degli Arcimboldi.

4.00pm
HB Tour: Discovering the Bicocca District by Bike (starting from 14 years old)
Starting point: HangarBicocca / Max. 20 participants / 120’
From agricultural origins to the industrial past of Pirelli and Breda, through to its redevelopment with the “Bicocca Project” by Studio Gregotti e Associati, to the HangarBicocca whose exhibition spaces come from the conversion of an old plant belonged to Breda Elettromeccanica. The itinerary goes through the dedicated cycling lane along the Bicocca District with planned outwards visits, excepts for the stops inside the Pirelli Headquarter with the historical cooling tower, of the 15th century Bicocca degli Arcimboldi exceptionally open to the public on this occasion, and to the Fondazione Pirelli which hosts the Pirelli Historical Archive since 2009.

MAY 12th
11.15pm
HB Kids – Our Own Kids’ Commercials! (4-6 years)
Where: HB / Max. 15 participants / 90’
What were television commercials like years and years ago? Let’s travel back in time and make our own Carosello commercials, letting our imagination run wild and seeing where it takes us!

3.30pm
HB Kids – Once Upon a Time There Was a Factory, or Rather Two… (8-10 years)
Where: HB / Max. 15 participants / 120’
Discovering Pirelli and the HangarBicocca exhibition space by exploring together the Bicocca district as it was in the past and as it is today… What about you? How do you imagine it in the future?
The activity includes a short guided excursion to the Pirelli cooling tower.

6.00pm
Cinema Discovery: Coraline (starting from 7 years old)
Where: HB / Free entrance on a first come first served base
USA, 2009, colour, 100’, animation, directed by Henry Selick
Little Coraline discovers a secret door, behind which she finds an alternative, much more interesting version of her own world. She starts spending most of her time in the other world but her bizarre adventure soon starts to turn dangerous. To save herself and her parents, Coraline will have to count on her own fierce determination and courage, but she will be helped by some neighbours and by a talking cat.

MAY 16th
9pm
Artist’s Choice: Pirelli on the big screen and little screen
Where: HB / 50’/ Free entrance on a first come first served baseThe art of advertising and cinema come together in a review of films from the Pirelli Historical Archive. Here we see the momentous shift from cinema to television, from the King of Italy’s visit to Bicocca in 1927, immortalised by the cinema pioneer Luca Comerio, to the great masters of Italian animation, through to the Carosello television commercials of the 1960s and 1970s.
The following will be shown during the course of the evening:

The visit of HM King Vittorio Emanuele III to the Pirelli factory in Bicocca (Luca Comerio, 1927)
… E gli ombrelli stanno a guardare (Pagot film, 1954)
La ruota (Pagot film, 1956)
Dormire, sognare (Pagot film, 1950s)
Freddo, semicaldo, caldo (Pagot film, 1950s)
Due chiacchiere fra noi (Pagot film, 1950s)

Mammut, Babbut e Figliut (Roberto Gavioli, 1964), 3 episodes
Le avventure dell’uomo (Roberto Gavioli, 1969), 2 episodes
La nostra vita sulle strade (Roberto Gavioli, 1970), 3 episodes
Ti cerco, ti filmo, ti premio (Enrico Sannia, 1974), 2 episodes

Il supermolleggiato Pirelli (Pierluigi de Mas, 1980)

MAY 18th
11.15am
HB Kids – Our Own Kids’ Commercials! (4-6 years)
Where: HB / Max. 15 participants / 90’
What were television commercials like years and years ago? Let’s travel back in time and make our own Carosello commercials, letting our imagination run wild and seeing where it takes us!
Mandatory reservation to: hbkids@hangarbicocca.org

6.00pm
Cinema Discovery: The Dynamite Brothers (starting from 5 years old)
Where: HB / Free entrance on a first come first served base
Italy, 1949, colour, 90’, animation, directed by Nino Pagot
Here we have various episodes from the extraordinary adventures of the three Dynamite Brothers, the sons of a drunken captain, who poke fun at conventions and at the hypocrisy of society. The victims of a shipwreck, they find themselves on a desert island where the devil kidnaps them and leads them to an inferno full of children. They perform a whole series of pranks at a piano concert and, at the Venice Carnival, they declare that happiness can only be found in good deeds: they stop the revelry and help a little girl in need. The link to the three naughty children is their aunt, who tells their stories at teatime with her friends.

MAY 19th
11.15am
HB Kids – It Takes a Tree to Make a Tyre (4-6 years)
Where: HB / Max. 15 participants / 90’
What do those huge Brazilian trees have in common with Formula One racing tyres? Let’s find out together in a fascinating adventure that will take us into the worlds of nature and industry, ending with a fantastic adventure of fun and creativity.

2.30pm-7pm
“The Bicocca Hunt”
Are you sure you really know the Bicocca district? Take up our challenge and join “The Bicocca Hunt” (Caccia alla Bicocca), an exciting treasure hunt in which speed, strategy and initiative are all essential. Let’s have fun together discovering the great transformations that have swept through this 700,000-square-metre area. An intriguing multi-stage hunt in a race against time! There will be many suprises for all participants!
Where: HangarBicocca (starting point)
Mandatory reservation
Crews: each crew could be constituted by a minimum of four to a maximum of 6 participants (at least one participant must be of full legal age). Max. 20 crews