FDVLAB – Associazione Laboratori Fabbrica del Vapore

FDVLAB – Associazione Laboratori Fabbrica del Vapore – was first set up in 2001 due to the interaction of 13 different entities that operate in the field of cultural promotion and contemporary art in all its different facets.

The non profit association was set up with the purpose of promoting the cultural production centre Fabbrica del Vapore, dedicated to the investigation and documentation of contemporary culture: from visual arts to performing arts, from design to architecture, from photography to fashion and not least, the interaction between these disciplines, new technologies and other cultures.
The workshops, winners of an international competition, throughout the year organise exhibitions, competitions, research connected to contemporary art in all its various guises, theatrical and dance shows, concerts, training courses, workshops and work experience.
The primary objective of FDVLAB is to transform the Fabbrica del Vapore into a centre of reference where one can collect and organise the cultural, artistic and productive competences of the city of Milan, thus creating a vast workshop of ideas and multiple creative experiences. Through the research, experimental and workshop activities, the Fabbrica del Vapore stands as an increasingly open ended and active space bent on the creation of new knowledge, languages and technology, as much as new activities and professional expertise within the culture industry. To this end the Association is made up of entities that work a great deal with young people, putting their competence and professional expertise at their disposal, with the aim of creating a real connection between the cultural production processes and the capacity for interpreted creative innovation, in the first instance, from these new generations.
Trying to provide a real answer to the cities’ cultural and social needs, the Fabbrica del Vapore intends to connect itself not just to its territory of reference, but also to the international creative system in order to set up a fruitful exchange of ideas, experiences and design know-how. To this end, beginning in September of 2007 FDVLAB is part of Trans Europe Halles, an international network of independent cultural centres which, having been first set up in 1987, has brought together over 45 partners from 25 European states.

The Fabbrica del Vapore, an emblematic example of industrial archaeology of the end of the 19th century, stood on an area of approx. 30,000 sq. mt., previously the home to Carminati & Toselli, a company involved in the construction and repair of parts for the rail and tram ways, at the beginning of 2002 began a conversion process in order to become a multipurpose space dedicate to young creativity.
The overall structure is made up of approx. 30,000. sq. mt. of which 14,000 are treadable: 7,000 sq. mt. are given over to FDVLAB workshop activities while the rest, still in need of refurbishing, is used as additional exhibition and performing activities and to a number of complementary services.
Between January and February 2008, all the workshops currently dislocated in the via Luigi Nono n. 7 building will move into the completed spaces of the Fabbrica del Vapore in via Procaccini 4.