1. HOME
  2. IULM
  3. About us
  4. IULM for sustainable development
  5. IULM and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
  6. SDG 11 – Sustainable cities and communities

Public access to museums

Università IULM actively provides public access to museums, exhibition spaces, art installations, galleries, works of art and artifacts and cultural events, reinforcing its commitment to creativity, cultural heritage, and community engagement.

A flagship initiative is the Museo Diffuso della Comunicazione, the first museum of communication in Italy, developed as a permanent and evolving project within the IULM campus. The museum includes TAM TAM – Teatro delle Arti Mediali, an open-air cultural installation designed as a publicly accessible, permanent exhibition space dedicated to communication in its multiple forms. More recently, the project expanded with La Linea del Tempo, a path of 52 stages tracing the history of human communication from ancient myths to the Renaissance. This immersive and bilingual exhibition, enriched with audiovisual content created in collaboration with IULM students, is freely open to individuals and school groups, positioning the campus as an educational and cultural infrastructure serving the wider community.

Complementing the Museo Diffuso, IULM has created an open-air contemporary art collection across its campus, transforming it into a public sculpture park. Works include Contatti Tenaglia by Giò Pomodoro, Porta d’oro by Marco Nereo Rotelli, Monumento all’Inferno by Emilio Isgrò, and Time without end by MASBEDO. These sculptures are accessible to all visitors and contribute to the idea of the campus as a “territory of beauty and dialogue with the city.”

In addition to permanent collections, IULM also organizes temporary and itinerant exhibitions. A notable example is La Montagna al Femminile, a research-driven exhibition that highlights the economic, cultural, and social contributions of women to the Alpine territories of the upcoming Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. Developed in collaboration with local communities and institutions, the project has produced a digital cartographic and photographic archive and has been presented as a travelling exhibition in Livigno and Bormio, with further public showings scheduled. Through images, videos, and testimonies, the exhibition offers an alternative narrative of the Alpine world and provides access to otherwise hidden cultural heritage.
Another example from 2024 is The adventures of vision exhibition by Virgilio Villoresi about the works of contemporary audiovisual: Amid dechirican scenarios, 19th-century apparatuses such as zootropes and phenachistoscopes repurposed in a key that is both playful and disturbing, visual effects mostly created during filming without resorting to excessive post-production; the exhibited works of Virgilio Villoresi were able to create a magical theater capable of transporting viewers into a dreamlike world.

By offering free, open access to museums, exhibitions, and cultural events, Università IULM not only fosters creativity and innovation but also contributes directly to promoting inclusive cultural spaces, accessible artistic experiences, and meaningful community engagement.