During October at MART in Trento and Rovereto, one of northern Italy’s premier modern art institutions inaugurates three landmark exhibitions, hosts a Futurist concert featuring original noise-intoners, and offers free public admission days across its museum network.
Located just twenty-five kilometres north of Lake Garda, the MART network—comprising Mario Botta’s monumental museum in Rovereto, the historic Palazzo delle Albere and Galleria Civica in Trento, and the Casa d’Arte Futurista Depero—presents a dense autumn calendar uniting fine arts, photography, scientific inquiry, and avant-garde performance.
Three Major Autumn Exhibitions: Water, Photography and Architecture
The museum’s autumn exhibition trilogy spans distinct disciplines across Rovereto and Trento:
- Water Flow. Acqua, arte, scienza e umanità (From October 10 at Palazzo delle Albere, Trento): Developed in close partnership between MART and MUSE (Trento’s science museum), this cross-disciplinary project investigates water through the intersection of contemporary visual art and natural sciences. The exhibition examines aquatic ecosystems, hydraulic resource management, and environmental balance in Alpine lake basins.
- Gianni Berengo Gardin. Mondi da abitare (From October 24 at MART Rovereto): Produced in collaboration with Contrasto, the retrospective features 120 works arranged across nine thematic sections. The exhibition re-evaluates the extensive oeuvre of one of Italy’s foremost 20th-century photojournalists, highlighting his architectural sensibilities and his documentation of inhabited urban and rural environments.
- Il Gruppo 7 e la nascita del Razionalismo italiano (MART Rovereto): Commemorating the centenary of the founding of Gruppo 7 in 1926, this archival focus explores the birth of Italian Rationalist architecture through original correspondence, historical blueprints, period photographs, and early printed manifestos.
Futurist Finissage and Luigi Russolo’s Intonarumori
On Saturday, October 17, at 18:00, MART Rovereto concludes its major retrospective dedicated to Giacomo Balla with a specialized Futurist finissage. The evening features an experimental concert conceived by Nicola Babini and performed live by the Pratella Ensemble.
The musical performance will sound the museum’s rare working replicas of Luigi Russolo’s Intonarumori—the revolutionary acoustic noise machines patented in 1913—interwoven with dramatic readings of historical texts and manifestos penned by Giacomo Balla, Fortunato Depero, Francesco Balilla Pratella, Luigi Russolo, and Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. Attendance is free with advance reservation.
Free Admission Dates and International Video Art
Art travellers can take advantage of two extraordinary free access days during October:
- Sunday, October 4: Free entrance to MART Rovereto as part of the nationwide Domenica al Museo initiative.
- Saturday, October 10: Free admission across all venues for the 22nd Contemporary Art Day (Giornata del Contemporaneo), organized by AMACI under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture. Free access extends to MART Rovereto, Casa d’Arte Futurista Depero, the Galleria Civica in Trento, and Palazzo delle Albere, featuring specialized guided tours and dance performances with the Oriente Occidente festival.
Additionally, the museum continues its Altri Quadri video art series on October 15 at 18:00 in the Fausto Melotti Auditorium, presenting a talk with artist Anna Moreno followed by the screening of The Terminal Beach, an essay film filmed in the Algerian desert examining modernist architecture.
Easily accessible from Riva del Garda and Torbole via the Loppio pass, MART provides an essential cultural destination complementing regional heritage sites such as Gabriele d’Annunzio’s Vittoriale degli Italiani and the collections of Salò’s historic cultural academies.
