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A museum is a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society and its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes of education, study and enjoyment. (ICOM)

MA*GA implements an up-to-date museum concept, as a site with its own identity that is its permanent collection. It’s a vital instrument of research and cultural enrichment for a large audience, for scholars and artists. It’s a meeting point, a cultural center offering broad and diversified services, supporting and magnifying the permanent collection and the temporary exhibitions. It’s a complex communication system.
MA*GA aims to conserve, increase and valorize the artworks in the permanent collection, to promote knowledge and to involve the community about themes highlighted, denunced and expressed by today’s art. So, through exhibitions, lectures, continuing education, all-ages student laboratories and special projects aimed to families and children, MA*GA supports the cultural development of its visitors, pushing for concentration about personal taste, expressive potential and social awareness.
With regard to cultural programs, the museum always acted following two directions: an historical and discriminating reinterpretaton of 20th century art, through exhibition projects which highlight meaningful authors and paths of our recent past, in a conversation with the permanent collection and a broad support to the most current research.
Since its foundation, establishing the still operating, historic, Gallarate Prize, a direct relation with artists has always been at the heart of the museum intents, through artworks production in order to increase the permanent collection, public meetings and workshops dedicated to the Art Academies and high schools students and with special events sponsored by the Province and Region Administration and by the European Community.
MA*GA pays a unique attention to the interacion of visual art, music, drama and dance, in the belief that languages contamination is a so rich setting for research, meeting and exchange.

The MA*GA Museum, open since 1966, is one of the most important contemporary art museums in Italy and it now has the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities as a partner. It houses a collection of more than six thousand works of art hosted in its five thousand square meter premises in Gallarate, a town halfway between Malpensa Airport and Milan, and at a branch in Legnano, located in the historical Leone da Perego Palace.The origin of the Museum goes back to 1949, when the Gallarate National Visual Arts Awards was created, with a view to establishing a contemporary art museum by purchasing the works exhibited in the various editions of the event. The first edition dates from May 25th1950, while we have recently celebrated the 25th. The Municipal Gallery of Modern Art was opened in 1966 on the occasion of the 8thedition of the Gallarate Awards. In 1973 the Gallery was moved andenlarged, while the establishment of the MA*GA Museum in its currentheadquarters was finally carried out in 2010. In more than sixtyyears since its foundation, the MA*GA has organized the everydaymuseum activities and twenty-five editions of the Gallarate Awards,paying particular attention to a variety of artistic languages from aperspective which gives prominence to the study of the mostsignificant contemporary expressions. Among the themes of the mostrecent editions we would like to mention: TerzoPaesaggio. Fotografia Italiana Oggi (2009), LongPlay (2012) and Urban Mining/Rigenerazioni Urbane(2016).

WEBSITE: http://www.museomaga.it