Letizia Ragaglia
A South Tyrolean on the road in Liechtenstein's art world
Letizia Ragaglia
Letizia Ragaglia took over as director of the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein with Hilti Art Foundation in July 2021. She succeeded founding director Friedemann Malsch, who helped establish the art museum in 2000 and led it for over 20 years.
Founding director Friedemann Malsch
Letizia Ragaglia with the team
We wanted to get to know her better and asked the new director 3 questions about the country and its people.
What is your favorite place in Liechtenstein?
Of course, the Liechtenstein Art Museum is one of my favorite places! But I am also very fond of the nature here. I enjoy walking or running along the Rhine and I've also gotten a taste for the Mühleholz outdoor pool, which I really like because I love to swim. Skiing in Malbun is still on my to-do list and I'm looking forward to it.
Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein
Old bridge
Freibad Mühleholz
Skiing in Malbun
At the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein with Hilti Art Foundation, several exhibitions can be seen in parallel. Is there an exhibition or exhibit that has particularly fascinated you from the start?
I am particularly fascinated by the retrospective of the Romanian artist Paul Neagu (until September 5, 2021). I have to admit that I knew the artist only superficially, and I am thrilled by his multifaceted work. I'm particularly taken with the videos of his performances, as they make visible and audible how spiritual and physical his work is at the same time. "Going Tornado" from 1974, for example, is a physical challenge for the artist, pushing him to his physical limits; at the same time, the repeated whirling movements and the shape of the spiral drawn on the floor also refer to his spiritual claims.
Paul Neagu, Hyphen-Ramp, Performance 1976
Porträt Paul Neagu, 1974
You have already been the director of Museion - Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Bolzano from 2009 to 2020, and now you are the director of the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein. What do you particularly like about this task?
I am decidedly a museum person: I firmly believe in the sustainability of collections. Collections are not only an important cultural heritage and memory, they are also very much alive! A person I hold in high esteem once said that collections are like old friends that you go to again and again to hear new stories. The Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein has an outstanding collection, and I am very much looking forward to telling the museum's visitors many exciting stories through new presentations and through dialogues with new works and artists.
What do we want to keep, Werke aus der Sammlung (Bild Stefan Altenburger)
What do we want to keep, Werke aus der Sammlung (Bild Stefan Altenburger)
Personal description Letizia Ragaglia
Letizia Ragaglia, born in 1969, studied museology and contemporary art at the Universities of Florence and Bologna and at the École du Louvre and the Sorbonne in Paris.
She has worked as a freelance curator, specialized in projects for public spaces, commissioned by various Italian and international institutions.
She was a jury member of the 54th Venice Biennale and from 2010 to 2013 a jury member of the Vienna-based project KÖR (Art in Public Space).
In 2016, she co-curated with Lu Peng the 3rd Nanjing International Festival "Historicode. Scarcity and Supply."
From 2009 to May 2020, Ragaglia was director of Museion, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Bolzano. There she curated solo exhibitions of Monica Bonvicini, Isa Genzken, Andro Wekua, VALIE EXPORT, Carl Andre, Claire Fontaine, Paweł Althamer, Rosemarie Trockel, Danh Vo, Klara Lidén, Ceal Floyer, Tatiana Trouvé, Rossella Biscotti, Cerith Wyn Evans, Francesco Vezzoli, Korakrit Arunanondchai, Judith Hopf, Lili Reynaud Dewar, John Armleder, Keren Cytter, Haim Steinbach, Marguerite Humeau, and Karin Sander, as well as several exhibitions of the museum's collection.
Art and Culture Mile Vaduz
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Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein with Hilti Art Foundation
Opened in the year 2000, the Kunstmusem Liechtenstein in the centre of Vaduz displays a range of modern and contemporary art.
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Liechtenstein NationalMuseum
Dating back to 1438, the building which today houses the Liechtenstein NationalMuseum has a long and varied history.
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PostalMuseum of the Principality of Liechtenstein
The Liechtenstein PostMuseum was founded in 1930 and opened in 1936. It shows the history of Liechtenstein philately and postal services. Since 2006, the museum has been part of the Liechtenstein LandesMuseum.
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Treasure Chamber of the Principality of Liechtenstein
The TreasureChamber of the Principality of Liechtenstein in Vaduz, the only museum of its kind in the Alps, focuses primarily on exhibits belonging to the Princes of Liechtenstein and other private collectors.