Steve McCurry brings "The World in Motion" to Milan Malpensa
Milan Malpensa is increasingly confirmed as not only a strategic hub for international mobility, but also a place of culture and meeting. The World in Motion - Malpensa, the new photographic exhibition by Steve McCurry, one of the most famous masters of contemporary photography, was inaugurated today in the check-in area of Terminal 1.
The exhibition, open in the presence of McCurry himself and curator Biba Giacchetti, is part of the cultural program of the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics and will remain open to visitors for the duration of the Games, and beyond. A project designed as a tribute to the Olympic spirit and the universal values of equality, brotherhood and sharing that unite peoples and cultures.
The heart of the exhibition is humanity in motion: hundreds of people from all over the world, portrayed in a suspended moment, the one that precedes a flight. McCurry chooses black and white and a neutral backdrop to eliminate any distraction and let the essence of the faces emerge, free from context, status and geography. The airport thus becomes a global stage, a microcosm in which identities loosen and a deeply shared condition emerges.
According to the artist, travel exposes people to primal emotions – expectation, hope, nostalgia, vulnerability – making the airport one of the few places where the world really finds itself. In this project, it is not the photographer who moves towards the world, but it is the world itself that passes in front of his lens, transforming the transit into experience and the passage into a story.
The initiative is part of the Milano Cortina 2026 Cultural Olympics, the widespread program that accompanies Italy towards the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, scheduled from 6 to 22 February and 6 to 15 March 2026 respectively. A context that reinforces Malpensa's role as the country's international gateway and as a space for dialogue between art, sport and travel.
The World in Motion - Malpensa is not just a photographic exhibition, but an invitation to recognize oneself in the other. A choral story that transforms the airport into a place of reflection and culture, where travel is not just a journey, but an authentic encounter between people, stories and destinies.
