The Pinacoteca di Brera hosted, in the Sala Aldo Bassetti, the presentation of the monograph “Maria Cristina Carlini. Materie viventi” edited by Marco Eugenio Di Giandomenico and published by Silvana Editoriale. The event brought together representatives from the worlds of art and institutions, fostering a discussion on the artist’s career and on the themes of matter, nature and sustainability that run throughout her artistic research.

The event featured lively contributions from the cultural sector. The presentation was opened by Domenico Piraina, Director of Culture and of Palazzo Reale in Milan, who expressed his appreciation for the sculptor’s strong commitment to environmental issues and sustainability, values shared by Palazzo Reale and the Municipality of Milan and reflected in her works since the beginning of her career. Angelo Crespi, Director of Grande Brera, expressed his appreciation for the artist, whose work has always embraced ideals centred on the care and respect for nature, themes that are more relevant than ever today. Chiara Rostagno, Deputy Director of the Pinacoteca di Brera, highlighted the importance of the monograph, which traces Carlini’s poetics, clearly reflected in the materials she uses as a space and vehicle for creativity. She also focused on the partnership between Brera and the Municipality of Milan in supporting initiatives that promote the arts. Alessandro Coscia, Exhibition and Events Coordinator at the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, emphasised the importance of the sculptor’s message, whose works have a sustainable impact not only from an environmental perspective, but also on a social and cultural level. The programme concluded with contributions from Marco Eugenio Di Giandomenico, curator and author of the monograph, who presented the contents of the volume and examined the key aspects of the artist’s creative leitmotif; Maria Cristina Carlini, the artist; and other prominent representatives from the cultural and institutional spheres.

The event was promoted by Associazione Ethicando and the Fondazione Maria Cristina Carlini ETS, in collaboration with the Pinacoteca di Brera, and marked the conclusion of a project that brought together contemporary art, research, institutions and sustainability through a fruitful collaboration between the Municipality of Milan, Palazzo Reale, Associazione Ethicando and Fondazione Maria Cristina Carlini ETS.

The book offers a comprehensive, original and innovative portrait of Maria Cristina Carlini and her artistic research, while also exploring the exhibition “Maria Cristina Carlini. Materie viventi”, which featured the two monumental sculptures “Bosco” and “Philemon and Baucis”, installed respectively in the Courtyard of Honour and the Garden of Palazzo Reale.

To accompany the presentation, several works by the artist were displayed in the room: “Pietà” (2010, stoneware, 70 × 60 × 40 cm), “Eva” (2018, steel and wood, 220 × 123 × 70 cm), and the preparatory model for “Eurydice e Orfeo”.

The SUART 2026 forum at Palazzo Reale in Milan, under the artistic curation and the scientific direction of art critic Marco Eugenio Di Giandomenico, is an interdisciplinar platform for examing the evolving concept of sustainability in art. Academics and cultural leaders contribute to the international debate promoted by UNESCO about the role of art and culture as drivers of sustainable development and territorial enhancement.

This theoretical reflection also takes shape through the exhibition “Materie viventi”, which serves as a practical case study of sustainable art. Thanks to SUART 2026 Milan becomes a hub for structured dialogue between culture, institutions and the economy, recognizing the essential role of art in shaping sustainable development models and contemporary cultural policies.

The exhibition “Materie viventi” presents Maria Cristina Carlini’s artistic research through two monumental works, Bosco (2012) and Filemone e Bauci (2021), installed in the Courtyard of Honour and the Garden of Palazzo Reale. It establishes a dialogue between sculpture, architecture, and open space, offering visitors a journey that invites reflection on the relationship between nature, memory, and transformation.

For over fifty years, Carlini has developed a practice based on the use of materials such as iron, Corten steel, stoneware, paper, and reclaimed wood, which she revitalizes through essential and highly evocative forms. In her works, matter retains the traces of time and becomes a custodian of both individual and collective histories.

Created within the framework of SUART 2026 (Sustainable ART), an international conference dedicated to the relationship between art, culture, and sustainability, the exhibition highlights how the theme of sustainability has always permeated the artist’s work—not as a theoretical premise, but as a concrete practice of listening, reuse, and transformation of matter. The works thus become places of encounter between past and present, nature and culture, inviting the public to reflect on the value of regeneration and responsibility toward the world around us.

The monumental sculpture Origine (2019) by Maria Cristina Carlini joins the permanent collection of Horti at Almo Collegio Borromeo in Pavia, a place where contemporary art, nature, and community coexist in a continuous dialogue.

Composed of seven polychrome stoneware columns standing over three metres high, Origine embodies some of the most significant themes of the artist’s practice: the relationship between human beings and nature, the memory embedded in matter, and transformation as an ongoing process. Air, water, earth, and fire, the fundamental elements of ceramic creation, shape a presence that emerges from the landscape as a sign of connection between individual experience and collective memory.

The permanent installation of the work at Horti confirms the commitment of Fondazione Maria Cristina Carlini ETS to promoting an artistic practice that places dialogue between material, environment, and cultural responsibility at its core.

Maria Cristina Carlini, as part of the Milan Design Week, from April 20 to 26, is exhibiting three monumental sculptures at the prestigious Superstudio Maxi within Art Boulevard: a curated walkway by Giulio Cappellini that connects the different areas of the venue, creating a dialogue between the sculptor’s works, the figures by Flavio Lucchini, and the sofas by Piero Lissoni.

The exhibited works embody Carlini’s artistic vision: Legni, Fantasmi del lago, and the new piece Le Tribù; these three large-scale works, made of reclaimed wood, iron, and metal, as noted by art critic Marco Eugenio Di Giandomenico, express the sculptor’s sensitivity to materials, her reflection on the relationship between humans and nature, and a striving toward the transcendent.

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Great enthusiasm at the Chamber of Deputies, in the evocative Palazzo del Seminario, for the talk by Maria Cristina Carlini, in dialogue with art critic Marco Eugenio Di Giandomenico at the SustART Forum, dedicated to the sustainability of art, a field in which the sculptor represents one of the most compelling voices in the contemporary landscape.

The artist was selected for the 2026 edition and, on this occasion, three emblematic sculptures from the Scala series were exhibited; during her talk, Carlini discussed her artistic poetics and her focus on the use of reclaimed and sustainable materials capable of evoking ancestral memories.

Marco Eugenio Di Giandomenico, president of Ethicando, states: «Maria Cristina Carlini is a sustainable artist in the most authentic sense of the term: her installations engage in a harmonious dialogue with their context and with the landscape».

SustART, now in its third edition under the artistic and scientific direction of Marco Eugenio Di Giandomenico, successfully brought together on March 4 important institutional representatives and figures from the worlds of business, the professions, academia and universities, for a lively discussion on the role of art and culture in sustainable development.

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Artist Maria Cristina Carlini meets the students of the MBI Master – Master in Business Innovation – at the University of Milan for an open lecture on the sustainability of art, delivered by art critic Marco Eugenio Di Giandomenico – MBI –, featuring the testimony of one of the most significant voices in sustainable contemporary art.

The event will take place on Saturday, February 21, 2026, from 12:30 to 1:30 PM, in Room 109 at the University of Milan, Via Festa del Perdono 7, Milan.

During the meeting, organized by Associazione Ethicando and Fondazione Maria Cristina Carlini, the docufilm “Il coraggio della grandezza” (The Courage of Greatness), directed by Pino Farinotti and Tiziano Sossi, will be screened. The film tells the creative and personal journey of the internationally renowned sculptor.

The open lecture represents an important opportunity to explore the themes of sustainability in art, in relation to the current debate on creative processes in the digital age. The meeting is part of the Master in Business Innovation, coordinated by Prof. Maria Letizia Giorgetti, which includes a section dedicated to art and tourism, scientifically directed by Marco Eugenio Di Giandomenico.

Maria Cristina Carlini has also been selected to exhibit some of her sculptures at the event SUSTART 2026 – SUSTainable ART 2026 –, to be held in Rome on March 4, 2026, at the Chamber of Deputies (Sala del Refettorio, Palazzo del Seminario).

To participate, please register at the following link:
Eventbrite – Maria Cristina Carlini meets the students of the University of Milan

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On Saturday, January 31, 2026, as part of the Milano MuseoCity event, the Fondazione Maria Cristina Carlini opened its doors to the international Urban Sketchers movement, art enthusiasts who depict works of art in museums, foundations, and prestigious locations around the world. Urban Sketchers was founded in Seattle in 2007 by journalist and illustrator Gabriel Campanario, who wanted to create a community of artists who could “See the world, one drawing at a time”, as stated in their manifesto.

More than twenty Urban Sketchers took part in the initiative, gathering at the Fondazione Maria Cristina Carlini, where they passionately sketched the sculptures on display. The results were magnificent, and the sculptor felt honored to see so many enthusiastic artists giving new shapes, colors, and light to her works.

It was a unique opportunity to share Carlini’s core theme of sustainable art: environmentally, through the use of recycled materials, and socially, through inclusion and openness to a positive dialogue among diverse creative perspectives.

We are pleased to announce that art historian Marco Eugenio Di Giandomenico is the new Artistic and Scientific Director of the Fondazione Maria Cristina Carlini.

His appointment marks a significant step in the Foundation’s path of growth and international openness; indeed, his experience in Italy and abroad will offer a valuable contribution to the development of our cultural, educational, and research activities.

Marco Eugenio Di Giandomenico comments: “I gladly accepted this new appointment because Maria Cristina Carlini is an artist of exceptional aesthetic value, aligned with that current of environmental and sustainable art which is today more central than ever for its impact on contemporary society: from the safeguarding of the planet to civil coexistence, up to the ethical themes that concern us all.” 

Biographical Notes
A critic, writer, and curator of contemporary art, he is considered one of the most interesting figures in the Italian cultural landscape thanks to his multidisciplinary perspective. A cultural economist, he has held academic positions in prestigious Italian and international institutions, and thanks to his diverse background—ranging from economics to philosophy, from theology to art history—he has distinguished himself as an expert in art sustainability, a field in which he has received numerous awards in Italy and abroad. He is a member of international cultural institutions, Artistic and Scientific Director of the Indian Chamber of Commerce for Italy, and has served as President of EthicandoAssociation since 2008. He has also taken part in documentaries and television programs dedicated to cultural insights, collaborated on initiatives linked to Rai, and written for important publications on contemporary art, cultural economics, and the third sector.

Maria Cristina Carlini was officially appointed SustART 2026 artist at the Camera dei Deputati in Rome on 26 November 2025.

The important appointment took place within the framework of SustART 2025, the international event under the scientific and artistic direction of Marco Eugenio Di Giandomenico, promoted by the Ethicando Association of Milan, which annually brings together institutions, professionals, and leading figures from the academic and cultural world.

The project explores the contribution of art to sustainable development, a theme fully aligned with Maria Cristina Carlini’s artistic vision, who next year, on the occasion of the 2026 edition, will participate with her works.

The initiative is held under the patronage of numerous bodies and institutions, including the Fondazione Maria Cristina Carlini.