MILAN.- Triennale Milano presents the exhibition Costantino Nivola. Costantino Nivola. Sculpting the Wind curated by Cecilia Alemani and with the exhibition design by Alessandro Floris, from November 11, 2026, to February 14, 2027.

The show explores the artistic practice of Costantino Nivola (Orani, Nuoro 1911–Long Island, New York, 1988), a leading light of transatlantic modernism who tirelessly engaged in a dialogue between the arts. Nivola’s training in Sardinia and at the ISIA – Istituto Superiore per le Industrie Artistiche in Monza, and he participated, in 1936, in the 6th Triennale of Giuseppe Pagano, with the fresco Si costruiscono le città (1935). Arrived in New York to escape Fascism, enabled him to marry the archaic culture of the Mediterranean and the cosmopolitan energy of the Big Apple, bridging two apparently distant worlds and languages.

His work developed between sculpture, architecture, design and graphics, pivoting on his firm belief that art was a civic act, a collective tool that could inhabit both the public and domestic space.

The over 200 selected works trace the fundamental stages of the artist’s life and research: from the first graphics for Olivetti to the large anthropomorphic sculptures and public art projects, through the groundbreaking invention of sandcasting, a relief sculptural technique in which plaster or cement is poured into damp sand resulting in richly material works distinguished by an extraordinary range of textures.

The itinerary interacts with the layout designed by Alessandro Floris, comprising five sections that create a portrait of an artist who masterfully combined radical thinking with practical action, and in whose hands materials like concrete, sand, and metal became a manifesto of modern humanism. The show is an invitation to see art as a shared responsibility, an indissoluble link between the individual, community, and the space around them.

The exhibition begins by focusing on the artist’s identity, exploring his roots as an illustrator and graphic designer through the crucial transition from Sardinia to the United States. It then addresses the research Nivola conducted on the duality between male and female: the works on display–from the monumental sculptures to the intimate terracottas–speak of bodies crystallized in archetypal figures or joined in erotic embraces. The central section spotlights his political engagement, understood as a structural, rather than simply ideological, force.

From the Chicago protests of 1968 to the reflections on an overpopulated planet, his art proves to be an active, and never neutral, testimony of the social tensions of the period. Next, sculpture meets architecture through techniques like sandcasting and graffito, which the artist used to explore public space and the monument as experienced space. The last section of the exhibition delves extensively into the domestic and relational universe he created in Springs: at the house-garden Nivola purchased in East Hampton, New York–conceived as a possible utopia between nature, family and sociality–he established and nourished a dense network of artistic ties, from his friendship with Saul Steinberg to his life-changing meeting with Le Corbusier, turning this space into the epicenter of an entire cultural era.

The show is accompanied by a catalog, published by Electa, offering new insights into the artist’s work through essays, interviews and critical entries by experts, art historians and former collaborators. The volume is completed by a wide selection of previously unpublished drawings, photographs, and documents from public and private archives. Introduced by the institutional text of Vincenzo Trione, the catalogue features texts and essays by: Cecilia Alemani, Giuliana Altea, Stefano Boeri, Michele Cometa, Sergio Cortesini, Michele d'Aurizio, Alessandro Floris, Chiara Gatti, Damiano Gullì, Helen Harrison, Richard Ingersoll, Stefano Mudu, Costantino Nivola, and Carl Stein.

Triennale Milano extends its gratitude to the family of Costantino and Ruth Nivola for their support and collaboration.

The exhibition is also supported by Fondazione di Sardegna. Opening Partner Gruppo Consorcio, Institutional Partners Deloitte and Fondazione Deloitte, Lavazza Group, and Salone del Mobile.Milano also support Triennale Milano through their contribution to this project.
Info
Costantino Nivola. Scolpire il vento (Costantino Nivola. Sculpting the Wind)

November 11, 2026 – February 14, 2027

Curated by: Cecilia Alemani
Exhibition design by: Alessandro Floris
Tickets
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