Palazzo Citterio’s installation where the natural world takes flight

 MILAN -- This winter, Milan’s Palazzo Citterio unveils Candy Eaters, a new site-specific installation celebrating the raw beauty of biodiversity in an increasingly artificial world. 

 In collaboration with curator Andrea Dusio, self-taught artist Alice Zanin has transformed the Tempietto, a small circular Milanese courtyard designed by Mario Cucinella Architects, into a spacious open aviary. Inspired by the eighteenth-century Capriccio, or Milanese Garden, the space acts as a bridge between the exterior and various halls of La Grande Brera, a place where exhibitions of art and natural sciences meet in a shared exploration of knowledge and beauty. 

 The installation evokes the wonder of biodiversity, playing on the structure of the pavilion as a metaphor for the balance at the heart of a sustainable circular economy, which preserves and shelters the beauty of the natural world. It features papier-mâché reconstructions of Roseate Spoonbills, a bird species whose brilliant-pink plumage is often determined by the colour of the food they consume. The exhibition’s title invites the viewer to imagine that these species acquire their pink hue from eating candy or through the artist’s creative invention, when in truth it is nature alone which shapes such beauty. In its celebration of biodiversity in its purest form, free from additives or mass production, this exhibition presents a narrative in which the power of nature lies not in its manipulation, but in its appreciation.

 At the heart of this exhibition lies a simple truth: we are what we consume. Milan, long celebrated as the fashion capital of Italy, is confronting the challenges of mass production and overconsumption, as local vendors and authorities advocate for responsible practices in response to the rise of fast-fashion retailer Shein. Amid such concerns, this exhibition offers viewers a brief respite from the relentless narratives of consumer culture, with crisp lines, bold colours and the lightest of materials coming together in a breath of fresh air for viewers, an image of clean unadulterated beauty.

 Curator Andrea Dusio emphasises the significance of the space as a “layer of the unexpected”, in which the natural quietly displaces the artificial. Zanin’s birds in flight hold a particular significance, serving as a means to divine the future of the natural world: “the site-specific nature transforms the Tempietto of Palazzo Citterio into an aviary while recalling the sacred concept of templum, the space designated by augurs for interpreting birds’ flight”. 

 The question remains: what kind of future might viewers perceive in the flight of Roseate Spoonbills, a species once hunted to near extinction for their feathers now thriving under the care of conservationists? Will the artificial continue to dominate artistic spaces, or has overconsumption finally gone out of style?  

 The exhibition will run until March, 29, 2026.

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