Founded in 2020 by entrepreneur and collector Marina Nissim, Fondazione Elpis supports contemporary artistic production with particular attention to new generations, through a comprehensive program of exhibitions, residencies, workshops, talks, performances, and nationwide projects.

Over the years, the Foundation has progressively developed a working model grounded in the relationship between artistic practice, research and context, building a platform capable of bringing different languages, communities, and territories into dialogue, including beyond the traditional circuits of contemporary art.

The Foundation’s identity is indeed deeply tied to Una Boccata d’Arte, the nationwide project conceived in 2020 by Marina Nissim that each year involves 20 Italian and international artists in creating site-specific interventions in 20 Italian villages, one per region, promoting an artistic practice grounded in relationship, listening, and the valorization of the cultural and social heritage of the territories.

Based in Milan’s Porta Romana district, Fondazione Elpis inaugurates in 2026 a new phase in its journey, expanding its structure through a system of complementary spaces dedicated to exhibition, residency, and experimentation. Alongside the Lavanderia, the Foundation’s historic exhibition venue, the Villa and Atelier Elpis become fully operational: new spaces dedicated to artist residencies, workshops, public programs, educational activities, and projects for public dissemination.

Residencies are one of the central axes of the Foundation’s research and are conceived as spaces of permanence and extended time, where artistic work develops through attentive listening to the urban, social, and symbolic context. In this framework, Milan itself becomes a territory of inquiry and experimentation, in continuity with the methodologies developed by Una Boccata d’Arte.