NoPlace

A social experiment, a one-day exhibition and gathering

Five editions, from 2015 to 2026

EVENTS

The editions: #1 Monza, 2015 · #2 Fombio, 2016 · #3 Suzzara, 2016 · #4 Santo Stefano di Magra, 2018 · #5 Maloja, 2026.

NoPlace is a social experiment in the form of an exhibition: a one-day gathering, in a different place each time, with simple rules that bring artists, works and the public together. Since 2015 it has had five editions, in Italy and in Switzerland.

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Small stone and wooden church among fir trees, with people in front of the entrance

The Evangelical church of Maloja, one of the venues of NoPlace #5

NoPlace #5, Maloja, 19 September 2026. Photo: Silvia Scanavini

What it is

NoPlace is not an exhibition. It is an operating condition.

It rejects the idea of a place as a stable, recognisable container, replacing it with a field of forces that is constantly being redefined. There is no centre and no periphery: space is built through the relationships that cross it, expanding and contracting according to exchanges, presences and interferences.

In this context, identities become porous. The artist is no longer just a producer, the curator is no longer a guarantor, the public is no longer a recipient. The roles collapse into a shared practice, in which every participant acts as an active node in a network.

The reference is not the order of the exhibition but the logic of the rhizome: horizontal, non-linear growth, made of unpredictable connections, branchings and crossings. There is no single narrative, but a multiplicity of trajectories that coexist and contradict one another.

NoPlace does not arrange works in a space.

It creates the conditions for relationships to happen.

And in this shift, from object to process, from place to connection, it redefines the very idea of exhibiting.

How it works: the 4-3-2 rule

At NoPlace there is no curator who chooses: every participant is both artist and curator. The exhibition grows by invitation, like a rhizome. A generating artist can invite up to four artists; each of them can invite up to three, and each of these up to two. There the chain closes. It is a rule that allows relationships to multiply without scattering. Whoever invites takes responsibility for the next level, without influencing the choices of those they have invited. At the root of it all is trust.

The editions

#1 · 9 October 2015 · Un giorno prima del contemporaneo, Ex Pirelli, Monza · 39 artists
#2 · 12 March 2016 · Castello di Fombio · 419 artists
#3 · 17 September 2016 · Galleria del Premio Suzzara, as part of the 49th Premio Suzzara · 625 artists
#4 · 21 April 2018 · Ex Ceramica Vaccari, Santo Stefano di Magra · 537 artists
#5 · 19 September 2026 · Maloja · 297 artists

NoPlace #5, Maloja 2026

The fifth edition was held on 19 September 2026 in Maloja, at 1815 metres, the pass that has always linked the Bregaglia and the Engadine. For one day the village opened its doors to the artists who came on the word of those who had invited them, without sponsors, without a budget and without a programme. Hotels, churches, a gym, a garage, a self-managed house, a tower in a nature reserve: very different places, one single welcome.

«On Saturday there was no ribbon-cutting. No opening speech, no ritual thanks to the authorities. Because at NoPlace the thanks go to those who put themselves on the line: those who came to bring their work and those who opened their doors to welcome it.»

The images of the day, collected by those who were there, are on Photogallery.

The Evangelical church of Maloja, one of the venues of NoPlace #5

NoPlace #5, Maloja, 19 September 2026. Photo: Silvia Scanavini