Group Exhibition Museum of Cultures (MUDEC), Milan, Italy
Artists featured in the exhibition
Pia Arke, Wilson Bentley, Alighiero Boetti, Anna Valeria Borsari, Giuseppe Bozzalla, Pieter Brueghel the Older (manner of), Judy Chicago, Francesco Clerici, Utagawa Hiroshige, Zhang Huan, Angelo Inganni, Juanasie Jack Ittukalla, Omi Kodama, Irene Kopelman, Utagawa Kunisada, Utagawa Kuniteru, Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Gysbrecht Leytens, Antonio Ligabue, Emilio Longoni, Cesare Maggi, Summer Mei-Ling Lee, Philipp Messner, Sosuke Namigawa, Leah Nuvalinga Qumaluk, Walter Niedermayr, Shimabuku, Chiharu Shiota, Barbara T. Smith, Joe Talirunili, Utagawa Toyokuni, Xu Zhen
Snow is a natural and almost magical phenomenon that has always influenced and inspired humankind. The exhibition, curated by Sara Rizzo and Alessandro Oldani together with Pierpaolo Caputo, assistant curator for the ethnographic section, and organized in collaboration with the MIPAM network, is a multidisciplinary journey through science, art, and anthropology, displaying over 150 works including paintings, installations, and ethnographic objects.
The exhibition opens with a collection of snow globes and with a scientific study of snow. Accompanying Bentley and Nakaya’s pioneering research on the geometry of snow crystals are computer-generated snowflakes created by Barbara T. Smith in 1975.
The ethnographic section offers a glimpse into the role of snow in the cultures of the Arctic (Sami, Chukchi, and Inuit), the Antarctic (Selk’nam and Yaghan), and the Third Pole (Tibet). Perennial snow and glaciers have inspired myths and ritual practices associated with shamanism. They have influenced the lives of these populations, shaping everything from housing and transportation to clothing.
The exhibition explores how snow and ice evolved from scenic elements in European art, as depicted by artists such as Leytens and Brueghel the Elder, to become central subjects with metaphorical meanings associated with Divisionist and Symbolist visions, as seen in the works of Longoni and Maggi, as well as the naïve approach of Ligabue.
In Japanese art, snow plays a deeply symbolic role, evoking concepts of purity, silence, and ephemeral beauty. This concept is evident not only in the ukiyo-e prints of Hiroshige and Kunisada but also in Chiharu Shiota’s installation, The Moment the Snow Melts, on display in the museum’s Agora since November 19, 2025.
In the 20th century, ice and snow become the material of artworks themselves, as seen in Judy Chicago’s historic performance, Dry Ice Environment #1 Artists like Pia Arke and Xu Zhen have also used snow to explore themes of isolation, fragility, and colonialism.
Contemporary artists such as Shimabuku, Walter Niedermayr, Philipp Messner, and Irene Kopelman address issues like climate change and overtourism in their works. The melting of snow and glaciers is altering landscapes that were once considered immutable, raising questions about the future of ecosystems, mountain communities, and the effects of human activities.
The special section in the curved vitrines of the Agora features the new installation, When Fox is a Thousand, by Summer Mei-Ling Lee. It is composed of 85 rolls of translucent gauze that evoke a snowy landscape animated by mythological apparitions in sumi-e ink.
Thanks to the Public Art Office, the exhibition extends beyond the museum space with a large-scale poster art project that will expand the exhibition narrative onto the walls of Via Ventimiglia, near MUDEC.
The Sense of Snow will also feature a comprehensive program of events focusing on climate issues, and by the fourth issue of the magazine “MU – Mudec United.”
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