Alcantara's "The King And I" Exhibit Draws Crowds in Milan

MILAN, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Alcantara, a company well-known for equipping the interiors of highly prestigious cars, also is becoming well-known for the artistic use of its material in displays and exhibits throughout Italy.

"The King And I" is the latest exhibition supported by the company. Sponsored and produced by the Ministry of Culture for the Municipality of Milan, the admission-free exhibit runs through October 23 in the historic Apartment of the Prince in Milan's Palazzo Reale.

The exhibition features the work of nine internationally known artists, including Maurizio Anzeri, Arthur Arbesser, Paola Besana, Gentucca Bini, Matthew Herbert, Taisuke Koyama, Francesco Simeti, Adrian Wong and Shane Aspegren.  

A collective narrative derived from fantasy and history; kings and queens; princes and princesses, frogs and labyrinths, the art exhibit serves as a modern fairy tale that guides visitors through 10 rooms in Milan's Royal Palace. The intersection of art, theatre, sound and fashion creates an experimental path around Alcantara® material and the project's venue -- the Apartment of the Prince.

"Rather than considering it a 'window' or 'set', we conceived the show as 'spirit' and 'place'," says Massimo Torrigiani, one of the exhibition's curators. "It was a starting point that stimulated everyone to reinvent the space and the material in ways that we at first found surprising."

Andrea Boragno, Alcantara's chairman and CEO, notes that "We are extremely excited about this new partnership with Palazzo Reale. This project clearly expresses and reaffirms our identity as a company through a series of commissions in support of the culture of our times."

Earlier in the year a group of well-known designers experimented with Alcantara material to create an imaginary dialogue between 10 cities throughout the world for an exhibit at the MAXXI, Rome's National Museum of 21^st Century Arts.  The East-West exhibit served as a travel narrative in images and objects suggestive of Amsterdam, Paris, London, Vienna, Copenhagen, Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taipei and Jakarta.

Alcantara's Magic Hotel attracted attention during this year's Milan Design week. The giant three-dimensional work of art created by Gentucca Bini was displayed on a building under renovation. Every evening after dark, the Magic Hotel came to life through a series of video-mapping animations that simulated activity within the hotel.     

Alcantara material also will be in use this month during the Teatro Regio Torino's presentation of Puccini's opera La Boheme by the Catalan company La Fura dels Baus in Turin – part of an international cultural partnership Alcantara has with the Teatro Regio Torino. The project is designed to communicate and promote Italian arts and culture around the world.

Alcantara S.p.A. – www.alcantara.com

Founded in 1972, Alcantara represents a prime example of Italian-produced quality. As registered trademark of Alcantara S.p.A. and the result of a unique and proprietary technology, Alcantara^® is a highly innovative material, offering an unrivalled combination of sensory, aesthetic and functional qualities. Thanks to its extraordinary versatility, Alcantara is the choice of leading brands in a number of application fields: fashion and accessories, automotive, interior design and home décor, and consumer-electronics. These features, together with a serious and certified commitment in terms of sustainability, make Alcantara a true icon of contemporary lifestyle: the lifestyle of those who want to fully enjoy their everyday life while respecting the environment. Since 2009 Alcantara has been certified "Carbon Neutral", having defined, reduced and offset all the CO₂ emissions derived from its activity. To mark out the path of the company in such a field, every year Alcantara draws up and publishes its own Sustainability Report, certified by TÜV SÜD international authority and available also on the corporate website.Headquartered in Milan, Alcantara's production site and R&D department are located in Nera Montoro, in the heart of Umbria Region (Terni).

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