The PAC (Padiglione di Arte Contemporanea) gallery offers the ideal venue for new trends and experimentation in art. This 1,200 square metre space has been used to stage over 200 exhibitions by Italian and international artists, presenting their creativity in new forms of expression and language. Photography, installations and video projections: from photographs by Italian artist Grazia Toderi and American photographer Andres Serrano to shows by Italian graffiti artists with their interpretations of hip hop and hyper pop culture. Plus educational activities, concerts, conferences and projections.
This pavilion, designed by architect Ignazio Gardella, is one of the most important pieces of 1950s Italian architecture. It is a flexible space, which, notwithstanding its unusual trapezoidal plan, is capable of providing an optimum solution to the exhibition requirements. It has an ultra-light metal structure, and natural lighting is provided by the windows looking onto the lakes in the garden of Villa Reale.
The PAC Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea was built between 1951 and 1954 on the area of the Villa Reale’s stables, which had been destroyed in the 1943 air raids. The new space, designed by architect Ignazio Gardella, was inaugurated in 1954. In 1993, the explosion of a bomb in a Mafia-related attack seriously damaged the structure. It was rebuilt to the original design by Gardella himself, assisted by his son Jacopo. Exhibitions recommenced three years later.