L’Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore presenta la mostra ELPIS – Dove nasce la speranza di Gianfranco Meggiato, artista contemporaneo noto per il suo stile scultoreo capace di coniugare spiritualità, materia e metafisica. Ospitata all’interno degli spazi dell’Ateneo, l’esposizione si articola tra le sedi di Milano, Gemelli (Largo Fra Agostino Gemelli, 1) e Carducci (Via Giosuè Carducci, 28/30), rimanendo aperta al pubblico dal 13 giugno al 30 settembre 2025. L’opening ufficiale si terrà a Milano, in Largo Agostino Gemelli, il 13 giugno alle ore 18:30, con la presenza dell’artista.The Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore proudly presents the exhibition ELPÌS – Where Hope Is Born by Gianfranco Meggiato, a contemporary artist renowned for a sculptural style that merges spirituality, matter and metaphysics. Hosted in the grounds of the University, the exhibition also occupies two neighbouring locations in Milan – Largo Gemelli 1 and Via Carducci 28/30 – and is open to the public 13 June-30 September 2025.
The official opening will take place in Largo Gemelli at 18:30 on Friday 13 June, with the artist himself in attendance.
The project comes forward as a by no means conventional exhibition but one conceived by students for students, as well as a wider audience: it is an invitation to everyone to experience art as a moment of shared reflection. For this reason, students attending the Università Cattolica were appointed as curators: Arianna Bono, Matilde Cauteruccio, Matilde Dante, Maria Laura Foti, Sara Ravelli, Alessandra Mara Sartori di Borgoricco and Melania Sisinno, with illustrations by Francesca Iperico.
The curators commented that “Curating this exhibition, as students, is precious opportunity for us to set in motion inter-generational dialogue to investigate definitions of hope. The intention is not to put forward an already completed concept but rather to fragment and reconstruct it collectively, starting from individual life experiences. In this context, hope becomes a shared territory we can inhabit together, a space open to comparisons, reflection and opportunities.”
Art is a discreet but powerful presence that ignites hope, spreads beauty and sows the seeds of opportunity wherever it comes into being. Inasmuch, the University, as a living organism, becomes a unique venue where creativity not only finds its place but also flourishes in unexpected forms. It is a meeting place, an extraordinary fertile refuge where everyone can find the stimuli and strength for a better future by belonging to a collective Energy that cooperates to find a positivity that is perhaps often threatened by contemporary vicissitudes. Consequently, students attending the Università Cattolica asked themselves if the word “hope” still had any meaning, thereby becoming the invisible architects of future cities. Elpis– from the Greek word meaning hope – seeks to achieve this: a new city and a new hope that have not yet come to fruition but which live in the glances, dreams and hands of people who, even today, live hope as a radical act.
Just like The Invisible Cities described by Italo Calvino, Elpìs has no precise boundaries: coming to life at the Università Cattolica, it rises between a thought and a concrete gesture, flowing outwards, moving beyond institutional limits to become a shared space, a place for dialogue and action. Merging with the urban and human fabric, this flow becomes a source of collective change.
The project develops through Meggiato’s fluid and meditative forms – an internationally renowned interpreter of dialogue between art and inner sensitivity. His sculptures guide us through this “nascent city”, inviting young people to question their own ideas of hope, through an open, personal and collective glance setting off from the works to get deep into the heart of contemporary questions about the future that awaits us. As Meggiato himself has said, “Art has survived all the wars, calamities and destructions of history and has always interpreted the cultural and spiritual peak of humanity. Through its perpetuation over time, down the centuries and despite everything, art is a plastic manifestation of the irresistible force of hope.”
The works displayed in this unconventional exhibition hosted in cloisters and meeting places of the University urge visitors to experience them at first hand. The artist seeks to promote active and involved interaction between visitors and his works: his sculptures are not conceived as objects merely to be observed passively but as elements for physical exploration. They can be touched and rotated, thereby establishing a direct, sensory dialogue with all spectators.
The event welcomes seven works: Il Soffio della Vita, Colpo d’Ala, Risveglio, Il Volo, Lo Specchio dell’Assoluto (located in Largo Gemelli), L’Incontro, and Oltre il Finito (located in Via Carducci). All the installed works all white, highlighting the concept of transcendence and the aethereal dimension, unique pieces cast in aluminium that are subsequently oven painted. All these works – with their symbolic and visionary language – accompany visitors on a journey of rebirth, hope and existential reflection. These sculptural forms evoke universal archetypes such as courage in pain, tension for what lies beyond us, the awakening of the soul and the encounter with “the other”, thereby composing visual reflections about humanity and its constant dialogue with the invisible.
Guided tours and related activities will be available for the duration of the exhibition. All of these events are intended to be moments for socialising and sharing. Visitors are invited to provide their own feedback about the topic of hope by leaving personal testimonies or thoughts prompted by the content of this exhibition. The stimuli on offer take shape through an impressive programme of cultural initiatives — including book clubs, film clubs and guided tours — designed to ensure the active involvement of visitors.
It will also be possible to leave written comments using special postcards available in the exhibition areas “posted” in special containers. The testimonies will then be selected and collected in a specific publication which will collectively convey the path of thought and involvement prompted during the exhibition.