Isola Art Center is combining international-level contemporary art, emerging young art,and theoretical research, with the needs and desires of the neighbourhood’s inhabitants. It is powered by energy, enthusiasm and solidarity.

It sprouted its first roots in the occupied factory known as La Stecca degli Artigiani in Isola, a post-industrial working-class neighborhood in Milan. Here it found itself in the middle of a conflict where it warmly aligned itself with the struggles of the inhabitants against the top-down urban planning and gentrification.

The battle was lost and the Stecca and the two nearby parks were evacuated and demolished to make space for luxury skyscrapers. This struggle tied Isola Art Center to the neighborhood and established the fight-specific way of working that became a strong foundation for our work.

This story is narrated in the book
FIGHT-SPECIFIC ISOLA. ART,
ARCHITECTURE, ACTIVISM AND THE FUTURE OF THE CITY.
Archive Books, 2013.