Origins
The history of MAMbo is inextricably linked to the Galleria d'Arte Moderna di Bologna: an Institution from which the existing museum came to life and on which rest the research's foundation as well as the project and the cultural debate, that are still being carried out.
In 1975 the spaces specifically designed for the museum by the artist and architect Leone Pancaldi were inaugurated in Piazza della Costituzione.
GAM was born in the atmosphere of intellectual fervor that pervaded the city in those years; before its opening, more than a decade of events, exhibitions and competitions had taken place in hope of its construction, joint under the title “Un Museo Oggi”.
GAM's activities, spanning over thirty years, were based on a binary project combining the presentation of cultural vanguards to the re-reading of Italian and international art history: from the International Week of Performance to anthological shows devoted to the protagonists of the twentieth century, from its parallel and complementary activity within the Villa delle Rose to the constant monitoring of young Italian artists represented by its Spazio Aperto experiment.

The heritage
MAMbo enhances the outcomes of this extraordinary memory and develops a reflection on its own significance and on the role of museums, whose immediate relevance can’t ignore the theoretical tenets established in the Seventies by the Galleria d'Arte di Bologna.

The new centre
MAMbo rises in a city area originally used for productive and commercial purposes. The important urban recovery project of the Manifattura delle Arti includes the MAMbo (in the former Forno del Pane), the DMS university campus (in the former Manifattura Tabacchi), the Cineteca (in the former Macello) and Cassero (in the former Salara).
The presence of the museum in this district strengthens the idea of a museum as a new center of cultural manufacture, testing and innovation.