Casa Marcegaglia, the corporate museum at the headquarters in Gazoldo degli Ippoliti, encapsulates the essence and uniqueness of the Mantuan group, a global leader in steel transformation.
We at Studio Chiesa, along with art historian Elisabetta Pozzetti, curated the exhibition project, encompassing everything from the concept, historiographical research, and content creation to the curation of the exhibition spaces, which were set up with artworks and multimedia devices, as well as technological exploration and the creation of a dedicated app.
The uniqueness of this space lies in the combination of content and technology, in the harmonious flow of data and suggestions, where the narrative of processes blends with multisensory immersion.
The museographic project aimed to maximize the value of the content through precise storytelling and an engaging narrative, utilizing the contribution of art in both the design and installation processes. It unfolds in various thematic stages, each animated by works of art and equipped with interactive installations and multifunctional spaces, creating an immersive environment capable of speaking to everyone.
Based on these premises, through a contemporary museological language and an international and interdisciplinary perspective, Casa Marcegaglia opens up to diverse audiences, capable of updating information in real time in relation to the company's evolution, fostering industry culture, and continuously growing to configure itself as an innovative reservoir for accessing stimuli, accredited contributions, and authoritative insights. The digital tools, combined with artistic sensitivity, provided the means to generate evocative atmospheres through projections, touchscreens, and interactive systems.
The journey begins outside, where visitors can activate content on the dedicated app while resting in the green area in front of the building and at the four narrative sundials. It continues inside, where you are welcomed by the work of Zhang Huan Buddha of Steel Life, seated in front of the steel coil, a three-dimensional embodiment of the mandala, symbolically and ritually referencing the creation of the cosmos and the cyclical flow of events.
Beyond the three digital touchscreen stelae, which introduce visitors to the Marcegaglia galaxy and the group's branches of activity, one enters the connecting corridor, which is dark and functions as a "membrane" designed to envelop the visitor, creating estrangement and preparing them for the experience that awaits just a few steps further: namely, the Theater—where visitors can pause to watch the video “Io sono Acciaio,” in which the words flow in harmony with the visuals by Ozan Turkkan—and the immersive Tunnel, which narrates the cyclical nature of steel, its recycling, its pervasiveness in society, and its eternity. It was created by Marco Barsottini and Lorenzo Sarti, who are also the authors of the following room, called Forma dell’acciaio.
Here, gestures generate on the walls the unveiling of the Marcegaglia production process and the sectors of use: from the production of carbon plates and tubes to the stainless steel process and the production of train sheets, highlighting the presence in all product categories where steel becomes either a structural component of the plants themselves or a key player in the industrial product.
The section dedicated to the group's History unfolds in two ways: a timeline of developmental phases and, on the opposite side, a projection on multi-level surfaces that simultaneously stimulates both sight and sound, dynamically presenting black-and-white photographs and videos of Steno and his family, as well as collaborators who represent the vital fabric of the company, alongside color videos showcasing the production reality.
A special room is dedicated to Steno, worked on by directors Massimo D’Anolfi and Martina Parenti and sound designer Massimo Mariani, resulting in an extraordinary and touching docufilm, using a selection of original audio, period photographs, and press reviews. Visitors move from darkness, immersing themselves in the projections, to the light of the atriums, which host the sculptures of Simon Benetton and Neveo Cacciani, and the room defined as Catena dei valori, dedicated to recounting all the activities that add value to the Marcegaglia world through a continuous line of monitors that can be activated from the touchscreen table in the center.
From here, one accesses the Hall, which becomes a place of memory as well as a future space. The duality between past and future converses in this wide and welcoming area, where the portraits of Steno and Mira Marcegaglia created by Vito Tongiani interact with the steel artworks of Tetsuya Nakamura, Adeela Suleman, Francesco Bocchini, and Luc Mattenberger, and outside, with the works of Julia Bornefeld (works created, like Zhang Huan's Buddha, for Steel Life, the first contemporary art exhibition dedicated to steel, realized in 2009 in collaboration with the Triennale di Milano).
In conclusion, Casa Marcegaglia is not just a corporate museum but an exhilarating journey into the material and the knowledge of its transformation. It is a multifunctional space capable of speaking to anyone who enters, regardless of purpose, age, or culture, generating an enriching and motivating experience. The coherence that can be felt, despite the diversity of the exhibition tools employed, stems from having built a museum starting from the content itself and maximizing its effectiveness through a harmonious, polyphonic, digital, yet deeply empathetic setup.
