Charlie Ben on display in the Milan Bergamo Airport store
Until 10 October 2026, passengers departing from Milan Bergamo Airport can visit "Emotions in Motion", a solo exhibition by the painter Charlie Ben hosted by Difstore Art Space, the exhibition space located immediately after the security checks of Bergamo Orio al Serio airport. The exhibition, curated by Maria Lucrezia Corno, brings together twelve works and inserts contemporary art directly into the travel itinerary.
The exhibition can be visited in the airside area of the airport and is therefore aimed in particular at passengers who have already passed security checks. A location that also characterizes the Difstore Art Space project, created to use the time spent at the airport as an opportunity for cultural discovery.
Twelve works between color, matter and gesture
Charlie Ben's work is built through a strongly gestural painting, in which the artist's movement becomes an integral part of the work.
Powdered pigments, acrylics and wax pastels are superimposed through different processes, creating surfaces characterized by layers, marks and traces. Some interventions remain immediately visible, while others are progressively covered by subsequent levels.
The attention is therefore not only focused on the final image, but also on the process through which it is constructed and on the relationship that is established between the painting and the observer.
The title "Emotions in Motion" recalls precisely this dimension of movement, particularly significant in a place like an airport, where people, times and destinations are constantly changing.
Difstore Art Space brings contemporary art to the passenger journey
The location of the exhibition is one of the central elements of the project. Difstore Art Space is in fact located in an area of the airport crossed by an international audience and can intercept, according to the data communicated by the exhibition space, up to 9,000 passages a day.
In an environment normally associated with checks, waiting, shopping and preparing for boarding, Charlie Ben's twelve works thus introduce a different moment in the journey: the passenger can stop in front of a painting even for just a few minutes, without having to leave the normal route to the gate.
Difstore Art Space is a project dedicated to contemporary art within the Milan Bergamo Airport, with periodic exhibitions aimed in particular at emerging artists. The artistic direction is entrusted to Maria Lucrezia Corno.
The initiative also expands the role of travel retail beyond the commercial dimension alone. The point of sale and adjacent spaces become part of the airport experience, integrating retail, territory and cultural content in a phase of the journey in which the passenger often has time before boarding.
The new store offers a convenience retail dedicated to Travellers, with books, newspapers and magazines, food & beverage, travel products, souvenirs, toys and personal care, distributed between landside and airside areas of the airport. The Difstore Art Space combines a cultural component designed specifically for the airport context and for an audience that changes every day depending on flights and destinations.
Charlie Ben's "Emotions in Motion" can be visited at the Difstore Art Space at Milan Bergamo Airport (BGY) until 10 October 2026, after security checks.
The exhibition calendar offers new exhibitions every month and is also open to spontaneous applications, presenting only two-dimensional works. Info and applications of young artists: marialucrezia.corno@gmail.com.
