With MU n.03, MUDEC reaffirms its role as a cultural laboratory open to the world — a space where every publication becomes a tool for research and connection. An atlas to be explored with an open mind and a deep breath
MUDEC – Museum of Cultures in Milan – has unveiled the third issue of MU – MUDEC United, the annual publication that delves into and expands upon the key themes of its exhibitions and cultural activities. After exploring the cultural meanings of the rainbow (Rainbow) and the display window as an exhibition device (Exposure), the new issue, titled “Travelogue. Underground and Undersea,” offers an unprecedented immersion: a journey into the depths of the earth and the ocean floor, as well as into the less visible territories of the psyche and the unconscious.
As director Marina Pugliese writes, it is a "psychoanalytic deep dive," an exploration of underground spaces that serve as a metaphor for closely observing what is usually hidden or overlooked. “We felt the urge to look at things a bit more closely,” adds the magazine’s editor Carlo Antonelli, who encourages us to dive beneath the surface rather than crowd the visible, exchanging excess visibility for the void, the submerged, and the invisible.
The issue unfolds through cross-disciplinary contributions that weave together different languages, disciplines, and perspectives. It features two special projects by artists Armin Linke and Adrian Paci, an insert from COLORS (1995) dedicated to overtourism, and a remarkable constellation of essays and creative contributions from leading figures in contemporary thought and culture: from Hans Ulrich Obrist to Emanuele Coccia, Andrea Lissoni to Luca Guadagnino, as well as Michelangelo Frammartino, Joan Jonas, Mariangela Gualtieri, Antonio Perazzi, Nico Vascellari & Michèle Lamy, among others.
The magazine’s graphic design, curated by Studio FM, reflects the multifaceted and contemporary nature of the editorial project, while the edition is produced by Alla Carta Studio. The result is a bilingual (Italian/English) publication with an international outlook, capable of blending museum narratives with the languages of art, botany, music, and cultural criticism.
To present this new “underground” journey, MUDEC chose a symbolic location: the former Public Baths of Piscina Cozzi, a gem of Milanese rationalist architecture. Here, on June 12, a special evening event was held, where Carlo Antonelli, Marina Pugliese, and cardiologist Giulio Stefanini brought the themes of the new issue to life, in dialogue with a site-specific installation by the collective 6:AM and the soundscapes created by Marta Del Grandi.
The setting — marked by marble, pools, and architectural silence — amplified the spirit of a project that invites us to “look beneath the surface,” traversing both the body of the city and the inner geography of our time.
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