Programming at Milan's Il Bollate Prison

The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation collaborated with E.S.T.I.A. Cooperativa to engage local prisoners in Milan through a series of workshops, lectures, and performances. E.S.T.I.A. is a Milan based non-profit that brings art and theater into local prisons. Our initiatives coincided with the exhibitions Josef Albers: Sublime Optics and Learning to See: Josef Albers as a Teacher, from the Bauhaus to Yale. This programming was organized in order to further our mission of bringing the art and teaching of the Alberses to new audiences, especially to those with little or no access to the arts.

Nicholas Fox Weber gave two lectures on the nature of seeing to inmates at Milano-Bollate Prison. The first lecture, on October 1st focused on Josef Albers, while the second lecture, on December 9th, introduced the life and work of Anni Albers.

Throughout the month of November, professors from the Academia di Brera lead workshops and seminars for inmates at Milano-Bollate Prison inspired by the teaching techniques and art of Josef Albers. These workshops were met with great enthusiasm by both the prisoners and the professors.

On December 2nd, a theater troupe comprised of inmates from Milano-Bollate Prison performed an original experimental theater piece at the Fondazione Stelline. The performance was inspired by texts, artworks, and the concurrent exhibition of and related to Josef Albers.

On December 10th, JAAF teamed up with Wayne McGregor's Random Dance to bring the prisoners of Milano-Bollate dance workshops. Random Dance, one of the leading international dance companies, does significant work to engage disenfranchised communities through dance. Their pedagogical mandate of learning by doing is very in line with that of the Alberses', and their time at Milano-Bollate was resoundingly impactful for everyone involved.