The Train - Between art, graphics and design

The exhibition creates a continuity of investigation and reflection on the theme of transport, with particular reference to the inauguration and commissioning of the Ceneri base tunnel and the cantonal project Culture in Movement.

Chiasso, a border town, has experienced urban and social development in close correlation with the railway. In fact, already in the late 19th century, the advent of the iron roads brought an important stimulus at various levels both to Europe and America. The exhibition presents works of Giacomo Balla, Umberto Boccioni, Fortunato Depero, Filippo Tommaso Marinetta and also display of posters, lithographs, postcards, brochures, train timetables, menus, calendars, almanacs, historical photographs and videos, as well as the process of designing logos, commemorating the great Swiss graphic designer Müller-Brockmann.

The exhibition, in collaboration with the FFS Historic di Windisch, Swiss Museum of Transport, the Museum für Gestaltung in Zurich,  MASI of Lugano, Istituto Svizzero of Rome, the Galleria Baumgartner of Mendrisio, was devised as an integrated exhibition project with the Museo Nazionale Ferroviario at Pietrarsa, Portici (Naples).The exhibition also boasts important loans from private collectors, among whom Alessandro Bellenda and Walter G. Finkbohner (Zurigo) are especially noteworthy. The exhibition receives the patronage of the Consulate General of Italy in Lugano.