Nan Goldin: This Will Not End Well

From October 11th, 2025, to February 15th, 2026, Pirelli HangarBicocca in Milan is hosting Nan Goldin: This Will Not End Well, the first major retrospective in Europe dedicated to the artist’s work as a filmmaker. The exhibition offers an immersive exploration of her photographic practice, combining moving images, slideshows, and sound to create a deeply intimate and multi-layered experience.

Nan Goldin’s work: a radical and compassionate vision

Curated by Roberta Tenconi with Lucia Aspesi, the exhibition brings together the most extensive collection of Goldin’s slideshows ever presented, including two recent works shown in Europe for the first time and a new sound installation by Soundwalk Collective. The show unfolds across a series of architectural pavilions designed by Hala Wardé, each crafted to respond to a specific work, transforming the gallery into a multi-sensory environment. The title, This Will Not End Well, reflects both the precariousness and enduring vitality in Goldin’s approach to life and art.

Highlighted works and projects

Among the works on display, The Ballad of Sexual Dependency (1981–2022) remains central, documenting decades of intimate moments, friendships, and struggles within Goldin’s inner circle. Sisters, Saints, and Sibyls (2004–2022) explores familial trauma and suicide, presented here inside a specially constructed “Cubo” space echoing the verticality of the Chapelle de la Salpêtrière in Paris. Newer projects, You Never Did Anything Wrong and Stendhal Syndrome (both 2024), blend personal memory with classical myths and artworks from museums worldwide, offering poetic meditations on life, mortality, and human experience.

Music and art: an immersive sound experience

For the first time, Goldin integrates sound directly into her works. Visitors are enveloped in an immersive soundtrack drawn from her decades-long archive of music, vinyl, and cassette tapes, paired with architectural and acoustic design that invites contemplation and reflection. This multi-sensory environment transforms each pavilion into a communal space for listening, viewing, and connecting with the emotional intensity of her work.

Exhibition catalogue

A 216-page catalogue accompanies the exhibition, featuring 140 illustrated pages and essays by prominent writers, curators, and critics, including Vince Aletti, Thomas Beard, Guido Costa, Marvin Heiferman, and Hala Wardé. Published in English by Steidl Verlag, it provides comprehensive insight into Goldin’s photographic practice and cinematic explorations.