CONTEMPORARY ART IN ITALY-An Essay

123ART
20117301030 201~203 Curators: Sergio FINTONI, President of 123ART Pei-ni Beatrice HSIEH, Director of Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts Exhibition Dates: July 30 to October 30, 2011 Exhibition Venue: Galleries 201~203, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts
Contents
Prefaces
and Forewords
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Emile Chihjen SHENG, Minister of Council for Cultural Affairs, Executive Yuan Pei-ni Beatrice HSIEH, Director of Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts Mario PALMA, Representative of Italian Economic, Trade and Cultural Promotion Office in Taipei Sergio FINTONI, Curator & President of 123ART
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Essays
The Etymology of Dolce Stil Novo Pei-ni Beatrice HSIEH, Director of Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts The Origins of Italian Design Sergio FINTONI Contemporary Art in ItalyAn Essay Vittoria BIASI Artists in the Exhibition A Short History of Italian Fashion Sergio FINTONI DOLCE STIL NOVO: Italian Contemporary Design and Its Contest Lapo BINAZZI, Architect Design as Added Value Sergio FINTONI Presenting an Exhibition of Italian Design in Asia Carlo ANZILOTTI & Cristina BENEDETTINI, Studio Anzilotti e Associati
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PRESENTAZIONE Works
AZIENDE
of the Exhibition
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Prefaces
and Forewords
97 123 ArtStudio Anzilotti Associati
Foreword
In 2008, the Council for Cultural Affairs launched a Taiwan Life Arts Movement with a view to promoting peoples aesthetic awareness, fostering a general fondness for beauty in daily life and building up a worthy cultural environment. The project includes three parts: Plan for Promotion of Life Aesthetic Concept, Beautiful Taiwan Promotion Plan and Art in Space Program. The ultimate objective is to inspire all citizens to reexamine beauty readily within their daily settings and thus enhance their aesthetic consciousness. Society will wake up to the prospect that living can be an utterly exhilarating experience. Over the decades Taiwan has undergone an evolution from handiwork to mass production to contract-manufacturing. The decisive challenge on which national development of the days ahead hinges is how to make people truly appreciate beauty and make beauty a value-adding ingredient of local industry. Dolce Stil Novo, an exhibition co-organized by the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, 123ART and Studio Anzilotti Associati, is a momentous attempt in the said direction. Revolving around an innovative theme, it aims to bring to life a genuine Italian way of life. Visitors will be given glimpses of various aspects of that lifestyle contemporary art, fashion, design, and foods and drinks. Furthermore, old elements are accorded a new touch to create a uniquely Italian style. I believe that the exhibition will give Taiwans creative and cultural industries many good ideas on how to attain higher ground. Visitors will be rewarded handsomely for their immersion in all the truly classic design works from Italy. That is, they will certainly be inspired to apply more elements of beauty to their homes. They can enrich their own lives and devise their own happiness, so to speak. The "Dolce Stil Novo" will showcase a good number of internationally acclaimed design pieces that stand out in the vanguard. Lets go and enjoy a taste of refinement and elegance the Italian way. It will be a feast of the arts in life. Emile Chihjen Sheng Minister Council for Cultural Affairs, Executive Yuan
1970 Branding Taiwan( ) 2011 Sergio Fintoni ART 123 emotional branding
Preface
As early as the 1970s, major art museums in the world began to pursue a crossover spanning fields of specialization, national boundaries and cultures, an endeavor that generally builds on an integration of art history and aesthetics. The art museum becomes a stage. A multi-dimension presentation of architecture, design, crafts, fashion, industry and living aesthetics is thus made possible; design classics find their way into museum collections. Precisely in such a spirit, the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts is now bringing to the public the "Dolce Stil NovoDomestic Landscapes in Contemporary Italy". To be sure, it is intended as a response to the government call of recent years for Branding Taiwan as a common theme of the cultural and creative industries. Whats more, it seeks to rectify the indisputable longtime concentration of international exhibitions of design classics in northern Taiwan even though the south has emerged as a primary incubator to the local design industry (to date more than half of design-related departments in Taiwan have been started by universities and colleges in southern Taiwan). In Taiwan, 2011 is labeled as Taiwan Design Year. The KMFAs "Dolce Stil Novo" not only has secured full support from Italian authorities but is also designated by the Council for Cultural Affairs as a key project of the year under its Life Arts Movement. Thanks to the Italian governments rigorous assistance and the funding from Taiwans central government, the KMFA is happy to take on board 123ART President Sergio Fintoni, who has kindly rendered assistance in curating the exhibition, as well as his top-notch team, who are charged with the exhibitions space planning and visual design. Above all, it is virtually something unprecedented in Taiwan that dozens of renowned Italian brands are present at the exhibition without asking for monetary rewards. Italy is where Roman culture originated nearly 3,000 years ago. UNESCO statistics show that more than 60% of the worlds tangible cultural assets are located in Italy. As such, its people might have been able to do little and live off this longstanding heritage if they opted to. But Italians have never allowed their history to degenerate into a burden. Instead they have faithfully passed on the legacy of their ancestors. What we see today is their perseverance in keeping up the Italian way of life; their avid creations in our times are set to accumulate into a wealth of assets for the use of future generations.
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Preface
For Italians, design is never just putting theory into practice. Starting out from a foundation that comprises culture, art and philosophy, it should find relevance to society and industry, as well as the economic and political aspects of ones community, and thus qualify as an instrument to make possible an appealing, desirable lifestyle. Todays Italian way, to be sure, features a perfect marriage between technology-intensive production techniques and the countrys time-honored tradition in all kinds of crafts. Thanks to a seamless match of branding and aesthetic emphasis, Italy is able to keep intact an exceptionally exquisite handicraft industry in the modern era of mass production. This exhibition highlights design classics of postwar Italy. On display are a good number of works done by masters of various brand names. These should serve as a convincing illustration how Italians have been able to draw from their historical and cultural roots and bring into relief the characteristics of local communities while empowering small and medium-sized businesses to help with conservation of traditional crafts. Without undermining quality and taste, they have been able to pool the resources of state and private establishments and make use of the latest technologies in attaining high output value and having their brands accepted and treasured worldwide. Emerging from its defeat in both world wars, Italy has undergone a timely evolution from a major cultural power to a supreme power of brand names. It has wielded tremendous influence and stayed hugely competitive to this day. Over the decades Taiwan has undergone an evolution from handiwork to mass production to contract-manufacturing. And now it is called upon to make beauty a value-adding ingredient of local industry and enable the populace to truly appreciate beauty. Emotional branding will be imperative as it strives to emerge as a new force of brand names to reckon with across the global community. Indeed Taiwan is working hard to launch its brand names into the world. Italy, we believe, stands out as an accomplished front runner in this regard and utterly qualifies as a paradigm worthy of emulation. Pei-ni Beatrice Hsieh Director Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts
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1950La dolce vita Dolce Stil Novo Beatrice Hsieh123ART Sergio Fintoni Buon vivere Made in Italy Vespa
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Preface
Enjoy Life the Italian Way

I took up my post in Taiwan nearly four years ago. While I have long been perceived as quite Taiwanese, I cannot help but notice something on many occasions. People from various quarters, either coming to my office or joining me at a restaurant (always Italian), will invariably start talking about Italys art, design, fashion, foods, wines, and luxury cars even before sitting down. Some will even bring up "La Dolce Vita" (The Sweet Life), the Federico Fellini masterpiece of 1960, which they believe faithfully depicts the way how Italians still live today. On the other hand, those who closely track Italys contemporary social and cultural trends will speak highly of Carlo Petrini, who started Slow Food as an international movement. Indeed, all of my friends in Taiwan tend to be quite excited at the mention of the Italian lifestyle. Im positive, therefore, that you will think the "Dolce Stil Novo" an exceptionally enjoyable exhibition. Is it possible that you will find ita pleasurable journey into the art, fashion, foods, and design co-curated by KMFA Director Beatrice Hsieh and 123ART President Sergio Fintonino more than a slice from a fairytale world? I think not. I believe you will be inspired into thinking about how to make your own home a more comfortable, relaxing place where more happiness can be savored. In other words, everyone will pay more attention to finding ways to bring more beauty to daily lifebecoming a faithful disciple of the buon vivere (good living) philosophy. Needless to say, the use of more made-in-Italy pieces must be crucial to make it happen. But this should hardly prove a problem. The fact is that you can find in Taiwan whatever choice goods from Italy you may have in mind, even the latest model of Vespa. For many people everywhere, mentioning this classic scooter of Italy often readily conjures up the 1953 movie "Roman Holiday". How about joining me on a Vespa for a Taiwan Holiday? Mario Palma Representative Italian Economic, Trade and Cultural Promotion Office in Taipei
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13 (Dolce Stil Novo) Dolce Stile Novo 1972 123ART
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Preface
Sergio FINTONI, Curator, President of 123ART
DOLCE STIL NOVO

The title of our exhibition refers to a poetic movement which took place in Italy and particularly in Florence in the thirteenth century. The movement was fundamental in giving to Italian literature a new direction towards a more refined and noble expression. This is the Mission of our exhibition: to represent the way Italian art design and fashion is developing in its more refined expressions. "Dolce" translated in English: sweet, but the Italian meaning of dolce is a more complex one: it has a feeling of comfort and a feeling of coziness and so is in our exhibition: a definite desire to make the living ambiance comfortable and cozy, a real cocoon where to relax and enjoy your privacy. "Stile" is Style: something that Italians have acquired through the years, to be identified with a luxury image known by the world over and which has inspired a multitude of artists and designers. "Novo", new: because everything in the exhibition is contemporary, is what you can buy now for your dream ethical setting for a home where design and creativity are a must and the objects can be bought tomorrow if so someone wishes. The history of Italian design is a long one but we can think in terms of contemporary design starting from the famous exhibition New Italian Domestic Landscape that took place in 1972 in New York at MoMa. From that exhibition Italy emerged as a dominant product design force, role which has kept till today. The common belief being that is possible to improve the quality of life by improving our physical environment.
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Preface
There has been a definite change in the patterns of life style: more informal social and family relationships and a major financial improvement. Man needs to construct his house and the house must have a poetical sense. There must be a bond between the man and its nest, not only based on use and functionality. The house must be built before we can think of development or big metropolis. Our first memories are located in the house we lived as children, the garden where we played; the feeling we derived from our growing in a certain atmosphere will somehow have a strong influence in the way we will develop. The house is really a stage where our life takes place and so is our exhibition, a stage where certain points represent the reality and others the dream. But we also believe that it will be necessary for the visitors to be informed, to know what they are seeing and what is the story behind the people who create these wonderful objects and therefore we have thought about information points where the visitors can find all they need to know. Our aim is to involve the visitor in an immersion in style which we hope will be a stimulus for their mind and will touch their heart. Sergio FINTONI Curator, President of 123ART
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Essays
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Dolce Stil Novo-

/
(Dolce Stil Novo Domestic Landscapes in Contemporary Italy) Dolce Stile Nuovo Dolce Stil Novo 13 (genre)(Dante Alighieri, 12651321)(La Vita Nuova) (La Comedia Divina) (libello)(prosimetrum) (Tuscan dialect) (troubadours)stilnovisti (Francesco Petrarca) (gentilezza/noblemindedness)(topoi/loci) (introspection) ()(courtly love /amour coutois/Minne,) (Divine Love)
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The Etymology of Dolce Stil Novo

Pei-ni Beatrice HSIEH, Curator, Director of Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts
When the "Dolce Stil NovoDomestic Landscapes in Contemporary Italy" exhibition is being held at the KMFA, someone who has secured a Ph.D. degree in Italy earnestly wrote a letter to us, saying that Dolce Stil Novo should be replaced with Dolce Stile Nuovo. But the truth is that the original is utterly justifiable. Dolce Stil Novo literally means a sweet new style that was originally used to refer to a momentous literary movement in Renaissance Italy toward the end of the 13th century. Later it became synonymous with the genre of the movement. The term made its first appearance in "La Vita Nuova" (The New Life) of Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), who also wrote the eternal epic "La Comedia Divina" (The Divine Comedy). "La Vita Nuova" is widely considered a watershed piece that was written in a prosimetrum style, a combination of prose and verse. It is particularly notable for being written in the Tuscan dialect, rather than Latin that was accepted as the one and only official language throughout Europe at the time. No less than a linguistic revolution, what Dante humbly called a libello (little book) came to be recognized as effectively the first textbook of the modern Italian language. As a literary movement, Dolce Stil Novo is known for its exquisite and refined output of both prose and verse. Paying close attention to intellectuality without losing the human touch, its authors are meticulous about their works but never become pretentious. A rung higher on the ladder of delicacy and liveliness than medieval peers, their works are rich with symbolism and metaphors. What the careless reader tend to miss are puns and other expressions of witticism. Troubadours and writers grouped in this stile are collectively called stilnovisti, a term Im bold enough to translate as members of sweet new school. Critics have a near consensus that Francesco Petrarca might have had little to build on should poets of the sweet new school had not started a hitherto nonexistent path of introspective meditation.
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The Etymology of Dolce Stil Novo
This movement is rightfully a turning point that leads to Italian literatures reaching full bloom at the height of the Renaissance period. With gentilezza (noble-mindedness) as the topoi/loci (theme) of their works, poets of the sweet new school are constantly engaged in introspection. What they gain in the process often leads to odes to feminine beauty. For them, the perfect female is to be found only in heaven, an angelic being treasured by deity and humanity alike. Under the spotlight is an emotion that needs to be held backfrom emotion it starts, and in etiquette it stops. In effect, it is amour courtois (courtly love) that can only be admired at a distance rather than fondled close up. That is, one is supposed to go beyond worldly beauty and physical love and transcend to divine lovethe supreme form of truth, good, beauty and happiness.
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1910 1920
EURPalazzo della Civilt Italiana1940
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Roma quartiere EUR, Palazzo della Civilt Italiana, 1940
1947 1957
Poltrona Le Grand Modele 1929
Le Corbusier, Poltrona Le Grand Modele, 1929
19201930 DomusCasabella
PiaggioVespa 1946
Castiglioni Brothers AulentiBoeriMariMunari

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Piaggio, Vespa, 1946
Sottssas Jr.Gi Ponti Franco AlbiniMollino Vespa Lambretta500Fiat 500Olivetti Lettera 22Bialetti Mulinex 1950 Pirelli tyresOlivetti ArflexMontecatini 1954 Compasso doro Joe Colombo Kartell Ermenegildo Preti Isetta Marco Zanuso Arflex Paolo Caccia DominioniAzucena SapperBrionvegaAlgol 11Bruno Munari DaneseAchille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni Zanottastool Mezzadro
ArtflexLady Chair 1951 InnocentiLambretta 1947
Innocenti, Lambretta, 1947
Marzo Zanuso for Artflex, Lady Chair, 1951
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2002 Pitti ImmagineEnt Art Polimoda20073 2010 Franco Angeli20055 20104

Azucena Lampada Azucena 1958
123ART S.r.l.
Paolo Caccia Dominioni for Azucena, Lampada Azucena, 1958
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THE ORIGINS OF ITALIAN DESIGN

Sergio Fintoni
During the First World War, Italy was known for its intense industrial design development. The years from 1910 to 1920 were decisive primarily for the car, plane and general mechanical industry. War provides a really important component for industrial organization, seriality, which can also be applied to industrial design's principles. The following step is the organization of a new group of young people which looked at the European rationalist movement and the German Bauhaus. This current was called Italian rationalism and its point of departure and centre of interest was architecture. In the 1930's their work became very important and significant and their interest shifted more and more towards furniture and interior planning. The rationalist movement also came out as a battle against the existing antidemocratic dictatorship.
Palazzo della Triennale1933
Milano, Palazzo della Triennale, 1933
Italian Design has its roots in this culture of rationalist architecture, which is not only about form but also takes into consideration the problems of human beings. After the Second World War, the whole country was full of initiatives with new companies starting up continuously. Within this context, the presence of enlightened entrepreneurs and their encounter with designers full of energy and new ideas, advocating new poetics and new languages, gave birth to Italian design as perceived today. Milan was the hub of this movement, also thanks to the presence of the Triennale, a design museum and events venue located inside the Palace of Art building in the heart of the city. It hosted, as it still does, exhibitions and events which highlighted contemporary Italian design, urban planning and architecture emphasizing the relationship between art and industry. The Triennale events were extremely formative contributing to the diffusion of the new concepts related to product planning and also contributing to the evolution of taste for domestic furnishing, transforming the whole concept of living.
CassinaDormitio Lunge1950
Gi Ponti for Cassina, Dormitio Lunge, 1950
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The decade from 1947 to 1957 represents for Italy the reconstruction years. This is a period when there is maximum impulse in the production of consumer goods with the diffusion of small cars, television, appliances for private homes, and a fast evolution of the populations standard of living. As a matter of fact, as early as the twenties and thirties we had the first design objects appearing on the market. There were also two famous magazines dedicated to Design, Domus and Casabella, both still in print today, where new ideas and
Fiat5001957
Fiat, 500, 1957
concepts found space for expression. But it was only after the Second World War that design became a concrete reality with an impact on a wide portion of society and particularly on the emerging middle class, while before it was limited to a restrict circle of high society. This was also due to the designers s skill in mixing handcraft know-how with the new industrial processes which resulted in affordable prices. This is the time when some objects designed and manufactured in Italy became well known the world over, like the lamps designed by the Castiglioni Brothers and the work of versatile artists such as Aulenti, Boeri, Mari, Munari, Sottssas Jr., or architects like Gi Ponti, Franco Albini and Mollino. At this juncture, industrial companies felt the need to ask architects and designers to work for them.
BialettiMoka1933
Bialetti, Moka, 1933
These are also the years when we have the first fully designed furnished apartments. Thanks to this phenomenon, design starts being a part of the reality of many families influencing taste and habits. Design spreads in all the spheres of daily life, homes and domestic activities, mobility and working spaces with a search for quality, quantity and price accessibility. This is also the formidable time of Vespa and Lambretta, the mythical Fiat 500, the renowned typewriter Lettera 22 by Olivetti and useful objects for the
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IsoIsetta1952
Iso, Isetta, 1952
house such as Bialettis Moka coffee machine and the Mulinex robot mixer, crated to give an answer to the new needs of comfort, practicality and image. New furniture is being produced and sold in semi large scale by industrial companies. All objects are linear and functional but with a high aesthetic content. Many of these objects are still present internationally inside shops and showrooms because since their birth they have been viewed as icons of style, and particularly of Italian style. Their success is also due to their quality and innovation standards because starting in the 50s many Italian companies began to invest on large product development centres, like Pirelli tires, Olivetti office machines, Arflex furniture and Montecatini chemicals thanks to which new kinds of plastic were discovered.
Brionvega Radiocubo Ts 5221964
Marco Zanuso and Richard Sapper for Brionvega, Radiocubo Ts 522, 1964
In 1954, thanks to an idea conceived by the celebrated architect Gi Ponti, the most sought after European recognition in the field was established: the Compasso doro prize. Social consumption does not only involve the technological aspects of production but also the communication that rotates around the products. From this point onward with the expression Italian Design we refer to all industrial forms invented and made in Italy, including the design of interiors, urban projects, fashion, design and architecture. This is also the beginning of the expression Made in Italy soon to be recognized the world over as a symbol of versatility, the landscape of small and medium companies, the use of the most disparate and innovative materials (the invention of new types of plastic, glass, metals and various types of wood) . Among some of the projects that established the primacy of Italian design during this period, we can mention the following: Joe Colombos plastic chairs for Kartell, the Isetta car designed by Ermenegildo Preti, Marco Zanusos Lady Chair for Arflex, Paolo Caccia Dominionis tables for Azucena, the Algol 11 tv set by Zanuso and Sapper for Brionvega, the Cubo ashtray by Bruno Munari for Danese and the Mezzadro stool by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni for Zanotta.
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ZanottaMezzadro1957
Achille and Giacomo Castiglioni for Zanotta, Mezzadro, 1957
KartellSedia 1965
Joe Colombo for Kartell, Sedia, 1965
Sergio FINTONI Completed studies at the London Polytechnic with a course in Theory of Communications. Since then has been working in the fashion business in various capacities living at different times in London, Stuttgart in Germany and New York. Has participated to all major exhibitions and events related to Fashion as well as to Contemporary Art. Till 2002 a member of the Board of Directors of Centro di Firenze per la Moda Italiana, Holding of the Pitti Immagine fashion exhibitions, and afterwards on the Board of Directors of Ent Art Polimoda, the most important Italian fashion school till March 2007. Responsible for external relations and marketing for the Centro per lArte Contemporanea L.Pecci in Prato, one of the major Italian Museums for Contemporary Art, has organized some important exhibitions all around the world. One of them: Italian Genius Now, Home Sweet Home, was exhibited in the Museum of Fine Arts in Kaohsiung and at TADA in Taichung, after a premier at the Shanghai Expo 2010. Franco Angeli, one of the major Italian publishers, has published by the end of May 2005 the book To produce and distribute fashion in a global environment and in April 2010 another book was published: No Limits Fashion marketing today and tomorrow. He is also President of a new Company 123ART S.r.l. specialized in e-publishing and organization of cultural events.
Lampada Arco1962
Achille Castiglioni, Lampada Arco, 1962
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1967
Michelangelo Pistoletto, Venus of Rags, 1967
1950 (G. Celant) 1960 CastellaniColomboBonalumi P r o g r a m m e d A r t F a b r o PascaliPistolettoPinot Gallizio Lucio Fontana Concetto Spaziale 1964 Scuola di Piazza del PopoloMario SchifanoFranco Angeli Giosetta Fioroni Tano Festa Mimmo Rotella1950Enrico
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Mario Schifano, Al Mare, 1979
Baj 19581959 PopPopular 19601970 Body Art ManzoniGina Pace Vito Acconci 1976Arte Povera Germano Celant AnselmoAlighiero e BoettiCalzolari FabroKounellisMerzPaolini PascaliPenonePistoletto 19701980 Nuova Pittura (Achille Bonito Oliva)1980
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Alighiero Boetti, Avere Fame di Vento
Mario Merz, Luoghi Senza Strada, 1987
ChiaClementeCucchiDe MariaPaladinoGerman Transavanguardia Group Arte e Moda1966 (Arte e Architettura2004) (G. Celant) Vanessa BeecroftMaurizio CattelanFrancesco Vezzoli
1991
Gilberto Zorio, Stella, 1991
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CONTEMPORARY ART IN ITALYAn Essay

Vittoria Biasi
1953
Beginning in the 1950s, neo avant-garde ideologies expand artistic languages creating crossovers and contaminations of the various genres. Art, architecture, cinema, design, fashion, photography, music, theatre and comics no longer have cultural boundaries but find ideological convergences, energy flows linking various experiences and changing constantly the cultural landscape (G. Celant). A special phenomenon characterizes the years of passage between the first and the second part of the 20th century. Tracing a language divide, monochrome exhibitions unite, with a white imaginary thread, the creativity of the east and the west. A white threshold announces social claims, it is the depository of the modern significance of art, it is transgression, provocation, negation. White to open a passage to all visual practices, a creative transfer offering a wide comprehension of a historical period, of the new avant-garde symbol of a social and cultural change.
Lucio Fontana, Concetto Spaziale, 1953
The Italian art of the 60s opens boundaries creating a convergence, an implication of many different practices. Castellani, Colombo, Bonalumi, the artists of the programmed art, the works of Fabro Pascali, Pistoletto, Pinot Gallizio take artistic practices inside daily life, thinking about the daily needs of our souls, with the work by Lucio Fontana Concetto Spaziale having an enormous influence on the period. In 1964 the Venice Biennale marks the discovery of American Pop Art, a movement that was already known in Italy and expressed itself in different forms, such as the "Scuola di Piazza del Popolo" in Rome, with artists such as Mario Schifano, Franco Angeli, Giosetta Fioroni, Tano Festa and Mimmo Rotella. Italian Pop Art originates in 50s culture, to be precise in the works of two artists: Enrico Baj and Mimmo Rotella. In fact, it was around 1958-59 that these two artists abandoned their previous careers which might be generically defined as a non-representational genre despite being associated with postDadaism to catapult themselves into a new world of images
221963
Enrico Castellani, Superficie Bianca 22, 1963
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and the reflections they were raising. Mimmo Rotellas torn posters gained an ever more figurative taste, often explicitly and deliberately referring to the great icons of the time. Enrico Bajs compositions were steeped in contemporary kitsch, which was to become a gold mine of images and stimuli for an entire generation of artists. The novelty lies in the new visual panorama, both inside the four domestic walls and out: cars, road signs, television, all the "new world." Everything can belong to the world of art, which itself is new. In this respect, Italian Pop Art takes the same ideological path as that of the International scene; the only thing that changes is the iconography and, in some cases, the presence of a more critical attitude to it. The emerging mass culture of modernity (Pop is short for Mimmo Rotella, Marylin, 1962 Popular) reconfigures new social systems, maybe quite far away from the creative problems of conceptual art, but sensitive to space and environment issues. Starting in the sixties and up to the seventies there is a strong wish for a real encounter with the public, for a participation of art in the various segments of daily life, thinking that art has a real value to offer to social structure. It is at this time that Body Art has its greatest impact by establishing a relation between body, skin and society the latter being embodied by the audience watching the artist performances, with a vague reluctance towards the most explicit sexual contents. It is possible to trace a parabola 2010 through the aesthetic elaboration of reality from Manzoni to Vito Acconci, City of Word II, 2010 Gina Pace to Vito Acconci, sometimes with extremely violent results but always with a strong love for humanity. In 1967 we see the rise of the Arte Povera phenomenon, a movement which has a different approach to the real, which meditates on the intrinsic energy of materials, considering the plastic world from a point of view of Italian tradition and humanistic culture. The critic Germano Celant suggests that the works by Anselmo, Alighiero and Boetti, Calzolari, Fabro, Kounellis, Merz, Paolini, Pascali, Penone, Pistoletto and Zorio, incarnate a new visual poetry. All these artists have the same
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plastic attitudes, which naturally everyone develops in his own individual way, but which together start a wide thought process about history, time, infinity, the relation between art and its perception, on all possible comparison registers. Many of the works do not have a decorative function but want to enter the philosophical process of their own time. In the late seventies and early eighties we also witness a new cultural wave expressed by the punk movement where the look features the colour black, shiny studs, piercing, pins, and heavy make up. A marginal sub culture which, however, has an impact on various artistic aspects. At the same time we have a rising interest in the Nuova Pittura (New Painting Style), 1981 where new means the return of the pleasure to look at Sandro Chia, Hands Game, 1981 real paintings. When many utopias are ending there is a need to return to something somehow past: in the 1980 Venice Biennale organized by Achille Bonito Oliva, the curator proposes some young artists such as Chia, Clemente, Cucchi, De Maria, Paladino, German. These artists pay attention to certain moments in past art history, they love to represent a type of figure which has crossed all crisis. These artists, known as the Transavanguardia Group, represent a pictorial revisitation which aims at opening new expressive horizons. Space, rhythm, energy, the investigated bodies, remain the artistic referents of the transformation and fusion of the arts as documented by the exhibitions Arte e Moda (Art and Fashion, Florence 1966) and Arte e Architettura (Art and Architecture Genoa 2004). In these events the historic research is historicized in relation to a whirl of fluid images from the fashion world and to the constructive scanning of the architectural process (G. Celant). Particularly in the Genoa exhibition, it is evident that the experience of a place destined for living is inspired by a joint effort of artists and architects who are close to each other in poetic ideology and where a certain artistic perception guides the project towards interior landscapes.
1997
Enzo Cucchi, Senza Titolo, 1997
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In the contemporary art scene, information about the environment where art is projected suggests a vision of existence in dialogue with its world. In the artistic tendencies of contemporary creativity we can see a repossession of the real. The various emerging languages implement an idea of desire, of contact with the world, forming an artistic landscape which presumes a simple behaviour, looking for daily pleasures, an emotional feeling of love. All these emotions can be easily traced in the works of Vanessa Beecroft, Maurizio Cattelan, Francesco Vezzoli, Italian artists known the world over.
VB 522003 Castello di Rivoli
Vanessa Beecroft, VB 52, 2003, Performance, Castello di Rivoli
Bidibidobidiboo1996
Roberto Cattelan, Bidibidobidiboo, 1996

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Artists in the Exhibition
Franco Gentilini 1987 1991 2004 2006 2008 2009 2010 Magazzini Generali 2004 Monogramm 9RO.MI 0RA X
Vincenzo CECCATO
Vincenzo Ceccato was born in Rome, where he attended the Academy of Fine Arts with Franco Gentilini. His most recent research is linked to language, digital painting, multimedia installation, video art and tries to merge, in technique and content, art and science. Main Exhitions and Performances: 1987 Artists Against Apartheid, Magazzini Generali Rome, Italy 1991 Immaginaria, Palazzo della Rinascente Milan and Rome, Italy 2004 Partecipazione alla LONDON BIENNALE 2004 Eros Arrows curated by David Medalla 2006 3 International Film&Videofestival Museo of New Art MONA- Detroit, U.S.A. 2008 Italian suggestions- Monogramm aGallery London, U.K. 2009 LUltima Cena a 9 miliardi di anni luce Multimedia installation RO.MI Contemporary Art Rome, Italy 2010 0RA X Scacco matto, a movie, Rome, Italy
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1984 10 2007 2010 2008 2009 2009 2011 2011 Innocenti BKK wi fi AOC58
Valentina COLELLA
Valentina Colella (born in October 1984) completed a 3-year degree in Decoration for the Historic and Artistic Artifacts at LAquila Fine Arts Academy(2007); Masters degree in Design and Artistic Organization at Florence Fine Arts Academy (2010). She makes her works speak through photos, videos and sketches in color. She develops an art intended not to separate but to join the vital coordinates of human nature. Her work is on the border between in and out of a cage; it is about the boundaries of perversion, the lightness of colours, the use of lies on the web. Main Exhibitions: 2008- In Albis, Start Point, Museo degli Innocenti, Florence, Italy 2009- In Albis, BKK Art and I luoghi di Fattori, Fine Arts Academy, Florence, Italy 2009- Italian Exhibition, Cultural Center, Bangkok, Thailand 2011- INVASION wi fi ART, Circolo degli artisti, Rome, Italy 2011- INVASIONE/NON INVASIONE, AOC58 Gallery, Rome, Italy
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A.D FMR1981 Connaissance des Arts Beaux ArtsL' il 80 50 2011 2011 2012
Massimo LISTRI
Massimo Listri is one of the most well known Italian international photographers. He lives in Florence in an antique palace full of extraordinary pieces of art, but he is travelling most of the time. He is a regular contributor to major Italian art magazines such as A.D and FMR, which he helped to found in 1981. He also works often with many other international publications such as "Connaissance des Arts", "Beaux Arts" e "L' il ". Since the 80s he has published about 50 books, among which: Rajas India, Tuscan Villas, Museum Fascination, Secret Naples, Tuscan Gardens, Versailles, Oriental interiors. He has had numerous exhibitions including: Massimo Listri, Palazzo Reale, Milan, Italy Libraries, Museo Pecci, Prato, Italy Florence Museums, Palazzo Pitti, Florence, Italy Great European Libraries, Morgan Library & Museum, New York, U.S.A. Invited to the Venice Biennale 2011 At the end of 2011 he will have an exhibition at the Vatican Museums and in 2012 in Taipei.
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1994 12 Andersen
Daniela MONACI
Daniela Monaci started working in Turin and Rome with traditional painting, designing and etching. Soon she began to be fascinated by the enormous potential of new digital technologies and she started using them to transform her pictures with the computer. She also works making installations using color powders, grass, fabrics and also the physical presence of people. Lately her research is concentrating on the moving image and on videos with music in cooperation with the composers. Since 1994 her works have been shown in many exhibitions including: XII Quadriennale dArte di Roma, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy ARTfiles, Pescheria, Center for Visual Arts, Pesaro, Italy Carte Italiane, Bruxelles, Belgium Autobiografia Aautoritratto, Andersen Museum, Galleria dArte Moderna Rome, Italy Il giardino delle ombre che splendono- video with music, American Accademy, Rome, Italy
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Toti Scialoja 1990 1989 2010Sentieri Selvaggi
Ugo PIERGIOVANNI
Ugo Piergiovanni was born in Rome where he still currently lives and works. After art school he took Toti Scialojas Scenography course at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. Subsequently he got a Bachelor in Sociology with a thesis in Urban Anthropology. His research started with classic painting but, since the early 90s, he has been using photography for his art. Later he started also experimentations with video and video-installations. His first show was in 1989; later he participated in many personal and collective exhibitions, in Italy and abroad. In 2010 he completed a documentary filmmaker course at the film school Sentieri Selvaggi in Rome.
1976 Pietro Vannucci19992005 San Luca
Antonella ZAZZERA
Antonella Zazzera was born in Todi, near the city of Perugia in 1976, where she lives and works. She studied at the Fine Arts Academy Pietro Vannucci in Perugia and received her degree in 1999. In 2005 she won a prestigious award for the best young Italian sculptress conferred by San Luca
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Academy in Rome. She has been exhibiting in several important art galleries in Italy and she often presents performances in private and public spaces.
()
Conservatorio L. Cherubini 20062007IRCAM CCCBFrittelli Offf
Leonardo BETTI (New Media Artist)

He studied at Music and New Technologies at Conservatorio L. Cherubini in Florence (Italy). Between 2006 and 2007 studied also at IRCAM and at Centre Pompidou (Paris) where he also researched and found a strong and original way that is visible in his artworks. Interactive art, video art, and realtime audiovisual performances are the main languages used and showed in European art galleries, museums, and events like Biennale art in Venice, CCCB in Barcelona or Frittelli art gallery in Florence. Recently master graduated at Offf Atelier, he moves between Denmark, NYC, Spain and Italy.
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198210 123ART
Marco Piero PAOLINI

Marco Piero Paolini was born in 1982. He has been living in Florence for the past ten years after graduating in architecture in the local university. He has been working as a freelance design artist and cooperated with 123ART and the Florence National Museum of Archeology where he made a video with the virtual tour of the Museum.
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1951212 Count Giambattista GiorginiTorrigiani Giovanna Caracciolo Alberto Fabiani Emilio Pucci Emilio Schuberth 1952 Palazzo Pitti (Sala Bianca) Renato BalestraRocco Barocco KriziaMissoniValentino1958 1968 ( ) 1970
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Giorgini
Dolce Vita Ava GardnerAnita Ekberg 1960 Micol, Zoe and Giovanna FontanaGiovanna Gattinoni Anna Magnani Sofia LorenSalvatore Ferragamo 1960 19601970 prt--porter 1973Gianni Versace(Genny) Giorgio Armani Gruppo Finanziario Tessile

Ferragamo
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1975(Camera della Moda) 1978 51 Missoni Fendi Genny Mario ValentinoEnrico CoveriMila SchonRoberta di CamerinoLaura Biagiotti PradaCavalli EtroDolce & Gabbana Isabella Rossellini

Missoni
Valentino
Gleni Italia
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A Short History of Italian Fashion

Sergio Fintoni
It is actually possible to date precisely the beginning of the Italian modern fashion industry. On February 12th 1951 Count Giambattista Giorgini, considered the first promoter of the Made in Italy style, organized a fashion presentation in the salon of his wonderful residence, Palazzo Torrigiani in Florence, and invited some of the most important American buyers, on their way back home from the Paris fashion shows, to attend. This was an innovative idea: having a fashion show offering both famous and emerging Italian designers the opportunity to present their creations to an international audience and therefore the opportunity to gain popularity and prestige overseas. This first Italian High Fashion show was seen as a positive success story, quite a revolution because, for the first time outside Paris, a fashion parade had been organized exclusively for foreign buyers and journalists. That special occasion sealed the overseas success of some of the best Italian designers such as Giovanna Caracciolo, Alberto Fabiani, Emilio Pucci, Emilio Schuberth. The official birth date of the first Italian fashion shows, however, is really 1952. After the success of his first Italian fashion parade in the salon of his villa, Giorgini organized a new, more complete, fashion presentation choosing as a spectacular venue the Sala Bianca (White Room) inside Palazzo Pitti (still in Florence), an enormous hall decorated with stucco-work and frescos located in one of the most prestigious museums in Italy. Count Giorgini had once again a brilliant idea: in addition to assembling the most fashionable Italian designers, he divided the show into categories. The first section was devoted to Boutique collections of leisure wear, which had proved to be very popular with US buyers, followed by sportswear and finishing off with haute couture. It was a sophisticated
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Emilio Pucci
Sala Bianca
A SHORT HISTORY OF ITALIAN FASHION
Krizia
division that differentiated the Italian fashion show from Paris and the world press responded enthusiastically. The day after the presentation at Palazzo Pitti, the top newspapers and magazines openly complimented the organizational superiority of Italy over France, the desire of Italy to challenge and vanquish Paris in the fashion arena. The Sala Bianca at Palazzo Pitti in Florence would witness, over the years, the incredible success of many stars in the Italian fashion panorama such as Renato Balestra, Rocco Barocco, Krizia, Missoni and Valentino. The latter presented in 1958 the first mini-skirts on the catwalks and in 1968, still in Florence, captured the attention of the media by showing an unforgettable all white collection (probably in honour of the Sala Bianca at Palazzo Pitti, the stage of his presentation) which was adopted by Jackie Kennedy, wife of the American President John Fitzgerald Kennedy and herself a fashion icon. This quickly made Valentinos name famous the world over. Florence kept its role as the centre of Italian fashion until the end of the 70s, and all designers aspired to present their collections in the White Room, as being invited to take
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part in the show was a symbol of prestige and a much sought after honour. Subsequently, the situation changed. For many different reasons, mainly political, Florence lost its position of supremacy and the Italian fashion shows moved to Milan. The name of the show was changed to Milan fashion week, now a world famous fashion event which, twice a year, focuses everybodys attention on the newest styles and colours proposed by world famous Italian designers. However, still today Florence stages two of the most important annual Italian fashion events: Pitti Uomo and Pitti W Woman. These are a prestigious showcase for many young emerging designers but also for our most famous and appreciated Italian fashion companies. In the meantime, in the 1960s, thanks to the strong artistic partnership between the American and the Roman movie industries, many Hollywood actors and actresses came to Rome to film movies. Rome became the other Hollywood and the Italian Dolce Vita became a dream for people all over the world. Italian designers started producing appropriate dresses for American actresses such as Ava Gardner and Anita Ekberg, who wore Italian made dresses not only during filming but also in their private life. The image of Italian fashion, then, also moved to Rome, the eternal capital of beauty, history.and, from the 60s onwards, also of Made in Italy elegance. It was at this time that designers and creators such as Micol, Zoe and Giovanna Fontana or Giovanna Gattinoni gained popularity, not only in Italy but in the United States and, in particular, in Hollywood, becoming the American actresses favourite designers. Emilio Schubert created looks for Anna Magnani and Sofia Loren, while the Florentine Salvatore Ferragamo made dream shoes for all the most important film stars.
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Roman haute couture became famous all around the world, confirming Italian fashion as the undisputed symbol of quality, prestige and refinement. This golden age lasted for about a decade, until the end of 60s when something happened which overturned the fortunes of Italian fashion and decisively shifted its focus from Rome and Florence to Milan. At the end of the 60s and the beginning of the 70s, fashion underwent a new important development: with the assembly line boom, the industry started producing t-shirts, skirts, trousers and jackets in bulk, giving birth to a more accessible type of fashion in terms of price. Designers were no longer considered to be luxury tailors but creators of a style that should be affordable for everyone.
Versace
Milan, Italys leading industrial centre, soon became the new capital of prt--porter and the top textile industries started employing talented designers to give a distinctive touch to their creations. So in 1973, a young designer called Gianni Versace started designing models for Genny while another young designer, Giorgio Armani, designed his first creations with his own name for Gruppo Finanziario Tessile, the most important textile group of the time. In 1975 the Italian Fashion Institute (Camera della Moda) presented its first official calendar of fashion shows and Milan celebrated its success. In 1978 about 51 collections were shown over the course of 6 days including brands such as Missoni, Fendi, Genny, Mario Valentino, Enrico Coveri, Mila Schon, Roberta di Camerino and Laura Biagiotti. More than 30 years have passed since that event, but Milan continues to be the heart of Italian fashion, attracting every year thousands of people. Fashion journalists and buyers come from all over the world to attend the traditional Milan fashion week, to see the new presentations for the coming seasons, sure to find the best in luxury and elegance, the pure essence of tradition and attention to detail; in other
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Giorgio Armani
words, the genuine Made in Italy style. During this time new brands have been joining the Italian luxury landscape, from Prada to Cavalli, from Etro to Dolce e Gabbana and many more. It is interesting to note how many of them have a history dating back a few decades marked at one point by the reach of the top level of the industry. Isabella Rossellini - model, actress, and the personification of Italian style herself - sums it up best when, in a recent interview about her new role as ambassador for the Made in Italy label in the U.S., she states: "Well, I think that Italy, for centuries, from the beginning of time had this incredible sense of style. You can see it in Renaissance paintings the way people dress, the clothes they wear, the art that comes from there.

Dolce e Gabbana
When I think of Made in Italy, I think first of all of quality, the quality of the textile, the quality of the tailoring, the quality of the manufacturing. That is the real strength of Italy and then the great artists". As she says, in Italy style is a way of life and life is lived in impeccable elegance and incomparable style.
Many thanks to Gleni Italia for allowing the use of their texts.
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50 Alessi Ulm School of Design Beaux Arts 1950 16Gi PontiCarlo Mollino Cassina SuperleggeraVertebra 1950 neo realismo Rossellini Visconti De SicaFellini
50 Cassina Superleggera1957
Gi Ponti for Cassina, Superleggera, 1957
1952 Count Giambattista Giorgini 1458Pitti Palace Franco AlbiniFranca HelgMarco Zanuso the Castiglioni brothersOsvaldo Borsani
Memphis Carlton
19501960Ettore Sottsass Jr.Olivetti TantraYantra
Ettore Sottsass for Memphis, Carlton, 1981
The Marche -Emilia-Romagna PiemonteLombadiaVeneto 1960 La dolce vita Antonioni Deserto RossoBlow up
OlivettiOlivetti 1968
Ettore Sottsass for Olivetti, Olivetti, 1968
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Porta PagliaraniSanguinetiBalestrini Umberto Eco () 19651970 Giovanni Klaus Koenig Gillo Dorfles 1960 bel designJoe ColomboFlos Achille CastiglioniZanusoBellini Afra and Tobia Scarpa(Gae Aulenti) GregottiMari 60 Archizoom SuperstudioUFO9999Ziggurat Pettena Buti Archigram Gaetano PesceUgo La PietraRiccardo DalisiAlessandro Mendini 19685 21 Swiss HerzogDe Meuron 1920 Arte Povera Movement happenings Domus Casabella ModoIn-PiInterni
1969 1967
Joe Colombo, Additional Living System, 1967
Joe Colombo, Portable Storage System, 1969
Fiorucci T
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street fashion KartelCassina PoltronovaFlosArtemide1960 1972(MoMA) Emilio Ambasz Italy: the new domestic landscape 1970Global Tools 1970UFO Paramount Perspex AlchimiaMendini BranziSottsassDe Lucchi Bauhaus FirstBauhaus Second SowdenCibic ThunMemphis AlchimiaMemphis
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1980 de-contextualization discontinuity Carlton(1982) De Saussure 19902110 bolidists1990 21
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Alessi Guido VenturiniStefano GiovannoniAlessi Iossa GhiniPhilippe Starck Michael GravesAldo Rossi Family Follows Fiction
Alessi Mami 2003
Kartell Ron Arad Moplen Michele De Lucchi Artemide Tolomeo Zaha HadidFrank Gehry
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Stefano Giovannoni for Alessi, Mami, 2003
Nigel Coates Mark Newson Jasper Morrison Patricia UrquiolaHumberto and Fernando Campana UFO
Lapo Binazzi 194319711967 ForesiMaschiettoBachiCammeo UFO 14(1968) (1971)Contemporanea (1974)(1978)1973 UFO(Global Tools UFO Alchimia (1981) (1987)Il Dolce Stil Novo della Casa (1991)
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DOLCE STIL NOVO ITALIAN CONTEMPORARY DESIGN AND ITS CONTEST

Lapo BINAZZI, Architect
I would like to start by underlining the fact that the actual concept of design in Italy was not restricted to the specific field of industrial design but it extended itself from primary design to visual arts in general. In other words, Italian design in the past fifty odd years has been the place which has reflected a very wide human environment, collecting and representing the needs of a society in rapid and deep transformation. Design has been a strong starting point for a coherent development of art, semiotics, handwork, fashion and industry. In art behaviouralism, performances and conceptual works find their natural expression and there was no contradiction if the chosen space to act was also design. In fact, to go outside of a specific field and to enlarge the territory became a sort of reserve of energy for the future, as a side look and false movement. This way Design avoided being fossilized in a strictly industrial area where the fundamental issues were questions of marketing, of hidden persuasions, of functionality married to the big numbers of industry and the problems linked to serial reproduction such as taste becoming standardized. In which other country would have been possible to imagine the fortunate slogan by Alessi: Family follows function as opposed to the dogmatic and formal Form follows Function of the German Ulm School of Design? I actually did part of my studies at the University of Ulm, going there for research from the University of Florence when I was preparing my thesis. There I realized how the need for simplicity which pushed the Bauhaus movement to revolutionize the sense of aesthetics from the old redundant one of the Beaux Arts into modern functionality, in the course of the years, had become a style emptied of its original concept of subversion as thought by its masters. The same for architecture, where the same masters, particularly in the years following the Second World War, where taken as a model for that International Style which lost the real meaning of modern design. There
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was a stiffening in repetitive formulae and a progressive and irreversible emptying. In Italy the fifties were characterized by great fervour in the re-building of the country after the war. One of its strong point was the birth of the furniture industry which had its roots in the old artisan shops and the small family carpentry businesses which were dating back to the sixteen century, and whose traditions allowed designers like Gi Ponti and Carlo Mollino to express all the potential of their personalities form architecture to art to handcraft to industrial production. But even industrial production is the result of strong personal research which was poetical in the first instance and then it faced new materials, new industrial processes and the needs of marketing. The Superleggera chair by Ponti for Cassina or the Vertebra table by Mollino are real symbols of the period and pieces which are still in production today and selling very well. What fascinates me about 1950s Italian design is the positive trust in the future matched by the effort of the population to improve its living conditions, a concept expressed well in Italian Neorealism. Films by Rossellini, Visconti, De Sica and Fellini showed Italy being poor and still suffering from being beaten in the war but full of energy and proud of its resistance against the Nazi Germans, hoping and wanting a better future. These movies began to show new styles of life and new models of behaviour, some imported from America whose image in the eyes of Italians was that of a magic land. And with America came the myth of domestic appliances: cars, refrigerators, washing machines, record players, TV sets which fed the rising consumerism in a streamline. It was the manufacturing of these objects which built the ground for the industrialization of the country and the competition pushed the industry to search for better designs.
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1954
Vittorio de Sica, LOro di Napoli, 1954
Fashions contribution to the value associated with Made in Italy was enormous, at first with handmade high fashion and then with prt a porter collections. These saw the first runaway shows taking place in Florence in 1952 in Count Giambattista Giorginis private palace and then in the official Pitti Palace, one of the most impressive Renaissance buildings in Italy. The first important Italian designers of the period had very strong ties to rational design: Franco Albini, Franca Helg, Marco Zanuso, the Castiglioni brothers, Osvaldo Borsani, among others, put down the foundations of the so called good design closely connected to ethical industrial production while still fully aware of the refined peculiarities of the Italian style. In their world there is always a personal touch, that imaginative step which prevents a product from seeming mass produced.
PoggiLuisella 1959
Franca Helg for Poggi, Luisella, 1959
1945
Franco Albini, Rockingchair, 1945
Between the 50s and 60s Ettore Sottsass Jr. was not only designing calculating machines for the Olivetti Company, but also paid attention to other themes, apparently minor ones, such as making small baskets with iron threads and handmade ceramics (Tantra and Yantra). These works reveal the rediscovery of new handcrafts where the approach was that crafts were no longer a necessity but a laboratory where to experiment new ideas and shapes for the young industry of furniture and design. It also represents the desire not to
ArtflexPoltrona Lady1951
Marco Zanuso for Artflex, Poltrona Lady, 1951

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detach completely production from a tradition of gestures and rather simple technology, focusing on high level of quality and refinement which is typical of the Italian crafts since the Renaissance. Instead of a conflict between industry and crafts as it occured following the industrial revolution, we start to see a deep alliance and cooperation. Small Italian factories grow quickly under the push of diversification and the acceptance of the different needs of consumers. There are several areas where this phenomenon is particularly relevant: the regions of Marche, Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna in the centre of Italy and those of Piedmont, Lombardy and Veneto in the northern part. The 60s are really central in our post-war civilization; there is a strong growth in our awareness of the newly reached standard of living and its connected new needs. There is the pleasure of dreaming, to look around and inside ourselves and to our individual personalities. People realize their individuality and enjoy their aspirations and anxieties, art and fantasies, knowledge and imagination.
1966
Michelangelo Antonioni, Blow Up, 1966
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During this time Italian cinema produces masterpieces such as Fellinis La dolce vita and 8 and 1/2 , as well as Antonionis Deserto Rosso and Blow up. The same happens with literature with authors such as Porta, Pagliarani, Sanguineti, Balestrini and the later world famous Umberto Eco (The Name of the Rose). In fact Eco taught semiology of visual communication from 1965 to 1970 at the University of Florence in the Architecture Department, chair previously held by two important intellectuals such as Giovanni Klaus Koenig and Gillo Dorfles, and paid special attention to the radical architecture movement, which had its Italian roots mostly in Florence.
1980
Gae Aulenti, Tavolo con Ruote, 1980
It is in the 60ies that there is the beginning and development of the deep conflict between the bel design (beautiful design) of Joe Colombo, Achille Catiglioni, later art director of the company Flos, Zanuso, Bellini, Afra and Tobia Scarpa, Gae Aulenti, Gregotti, Mari and many other famous names who applied the rules of a natural minimalism and will be monopolizing the industries of the sixties, and the anti-design of the radical architects. The movement of anti-design being born in the mid of the decade mostly with the Florentines groups Archizoom, Superstudio, Ufo, 9999, Ziggurat and individual personalities such as Pettena and Buti.
1969
Gaetano Pesce, Mamma Chair, 1969
These groups, born on the wave of PopArt, and of the English group Archigram were a galaxy full of growing energy aggregating figures such as Gaetano Pesce, Ugo La Pietra, Riccardo Dalisi, Alessandro Mendini and others. They were also very conscious of the social implications of the political demonstrations started in Paris in May 68: anti authoritarianism, confrontations, new lifestyles also in the sexual field. The proximity of these groups to visual arts will be for over 10 years a fertile exchange ground and they will be the vanguard of the second part of the century. Not only but they will also be fundamental for the development of
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design in the years 2000 so much so that some of the new archistars such as the Swiss Herzog and De Meuron admit their being debtors to the Italian radical architect. Their role has been somehow similar to the one that the Bauhaus movement had from the 20ies. Many the contacts and the occasions of comparisons in places such as the Triennale in Milan or the Biennale in Venice where the radical design will interface with Conceptual Art and the Arte Povera Movement as well as with Land Art, happenings and performances. These explosions of vitality were accompanied by a theoretical activity on important magazines such as Domus, Casabella, Modo, In-Pi, Interni and many others and they are perceived as a real revolution. It will also become a fashionable phenomena that young people will feel like belonging to them the same as the Jeans or the T shirts by Fiorucci. In fact also fashion as such is changing, no longer only coming from high fashion designers but becoming more popular with ready to wear that take into consideration the so called street fashion. It was also a rebellion against impositions coming from the needs of big numbers typical of the big industries. In Italy, in this period, the industries had evolved and were able to keep up with the fizz of the new situation, by using both for marketing and for production the energies of these new designers. Industries such as Kartel, Cassina, Poltronova, Flos, Artemide and many others were already at the end of the 60ies solid production realities and they participated in a very active way to the transformation and this acceptance of the new is undoubtedly one of the main reasons why Italian design comes out as the winner in a world contest. In 1972 the Museum of Modern Art of New York (MoMa) had an exhibition, curated by Emilio Ambasz, Italy: the new domestic
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landscape which has been fundamental to show the world the Italian primacy in design. We want to underline that this primacy was born at a deep level, from the extreme liberty the radical design used in its approach with other arts: from architecture to visual arts, from theatre to music, literature, cinema and fashion. And not only because there was also an interchange with technology, linguistics in the semiotic sense, politics, anthropology, challenging everything without fear to the limit of recklessness. From all this is born the refusal of the specific disciplinary as a cage too narrow and obsolete, not being able to take into account all these new and multiform forms of life. For all the 70ies radical design experiments freely and with the Global Tools tries to form an advanced school to teach natural techniques and related behaviours. The school was rich of energies and it incorporated all the contributions from all the protagonists of the radical movement with seminars held in Florence and Milan. But it was Milan that took the leading role thanks to the proximity with the most important industries and its role as the business capital of Italy. It is in the mid 70ies that the Post radical design develops, and while in Florence a designers group UFO opened a handcraft workshop to produce their designs, such as the famous lamp Paramount, using a variety of materials such as polyurethane, perspex, neon lights, pressed paper, objects trouv etc., in Milan there was the birth of the group Alchimia which shortly became famous the world over with participating architects Mendini, Branzi, Sottsass, De Lucchi with the collections Bauhaus First and Bauhaus Second. Later Sottsass will leave the group to start Memphis with Sowden, Cibic, Thun, Branzi and others. Alchimia and Memphis have a real international acclaim and recognition and it was the beginning of the so called new Italian design. We want to point out that the multicoloured of these two brands face the relation between art and design
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in a very direct way and the objects they produced moved and still do in the area of art multiples and exhibited in museums more than in furniture shows and they have become very expensive collectibles. The 80ies are very much criticized for the excessive use of colour and for a certain superficiality. In reality the radical and post radical generation was trying to capture a wider audience as well to keep influencing all the design of the period try to be provocative and pleasantly attractive at the same time. In a sort of nave way was try to put its utopia at the service of the hope of young generations proposing itself to be the leader of a change extended to the wish to mix art, architecture and design. A sort of a radical reconstruction if the universe. From these experiences there are the works of Mendini for the Museum in Groningen, Holland, expression of banality as a positive concept of de-contextualization and discontinuity and the architecture of Sottsass for the multicoloured villas in California like first examples of a new image made of arcades, columns, squared windows reminding ironically of Lego homes. Many furniture pieces of the period, such as the bookshelf Carlton by Sottsass (1982), are experimenting the design as sculpture occupying the space in a peremptory way beyond their broken and uncontrolled function. It is obvious their connection with deconstructionism and I consider this period as the top of the intention of utopia which, in between art, architecture and design, tries to question the dogmas of contemporary artistic expressions: the minimalism in art founded on its own lack of functionality as well as on its total freedom of expression and the minimalism of architecture which leaves to art the task of undermine it. After all it was the expression of a post industrial renewal of the Italian society which had fully discovered communication
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and marketing as indispensable to the production system which needed an immediate media identification and representation of the difference between signifier and signification, as De Saussure, one of the founders of semiotics, described: two sides of the same sheet where in between can exist only a relation, a linguistic agreement in other words its discontinuity. In the 90ies and the first ten years of the 2000 there have been more transformations in the society, first of all the innovations connected with the world of internet and communications in general. We are surrounded by objects related to new functions and the needs of the new generation, which have surprised us for the demand of new aesthetics bound to functionality, which presupposes, particularly for the software, a conceptual symbiosis which comes natural to young people. From this point of view the specifics of design are definitely a positive fact specially if awnings to the immaterial aspects. We have also to mention the group of so called bolidists which since the 90ies felt the need to represent the need for immateriality. And the years 2000 have seen the final affirmation of the last wave of designers coming from the roots of radical design. They came into direct relation with the production of objects for the home by Alessi, designing icons which make a revolution in a sector which had been rather unchanged for a long time, opening the way for countless new designs. Designers such as Guido Venturini, Stefano Giovannoni (Art director of Alessi), Iossa Ghini work closely with Philippe Starck, Michael Graves and Aldo Rossi for a project which transform deeply with the slogan of Mendini Family Follows Fiction the way design presents itself to the general public. It is not a moralistic job but a friendly game which wants also to please and its at the end mostly marketing.
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In the first ten years of the new millennium, the most interesting phenomena is the internationalization of design, with important protagonists coming to Italy and particularly to Milan, from all over the world, confirming this way the role of the city as capital of design and originating a new cooperation with the industries of the Made in Italy. This tendency is typical of the radical design: the approach to interdisciplinary communication made of light, very sophisticated atmospheres which include innovation, research and poetical sensitivity. Just to mention names such as the above mentioned French Philippe Starck designing polycarbonate chairs Louis XIV style for Kartell or the Israeli Ron Arad who, for the same company designed a famous library Book Worm in Moplen plastic. They are two examples of very commercially successful objects which still have a very simple but biting irony. The disenchanted approach provides, besides the inclusion of new materials and new industrial philosophies, the presence of an unconventional attitude no longer typical of Italian designers. Michele De Lucchi, who opened new paths with his famous lamp Tolomeo for Artemide goes on designing successful new industrially produced lamps for the Company but at the same time, like Ron Arad and myself, designs small series of unique pieces self produced, experimental with a close connection to a new conceptual handcraft where the object confronts itself with visual arts and probing still unknown possibilities. Ron Arad when questioned about the ethical responsibilities of a project, answered by saying that when confronted with a bivalent choice between projects for large quantities and experimental, autobiographical pieces, his idea was that the objects addressed to a large audience should be planned in order to achieve the lowest possible price, also because in this case he would be paid with a royalty based on a percentage on sales, while in the case of unique pieces or small serial ones he wanted to get the highest possible price as a real artists work.
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But the contaminations are everywhere and De Lucchi himself goes from design to architecture to interior design all over the world the same way of most archistars of today such as the Iraqi, based in London, Zaha Hadid or the American Frank Gehry, famour for their exceptional architectural projects but who dont dislike designing objects. Very often the language of their objects is characterized by a discontinuity with the architectural one, and also this attitude started with the radical design. I would like to mention Nigel Coates, Mark Newson and Jasper Morrison English designers working mostly in Milan like the Spanish Patricia Urquiola and the Brazilian brothers Humberto and Fernando Campana, all of them finding essential to work with the Italian industry, the only one which has also a complete world marketing power and image. Lately we have seen a development towards giving historically a value to designers for their contribution towards visual arts, such as Sottsass jr photos or UFOs Italian Tour video, moreover the preparatory drawings of designers are collected and sold regularly in art galleries commanding always higher prices. Therefore there is a strong overall feeling of the potential existing in this crossover of competencies and continuous contaminations; there is a feeling that designer and artist should be the same person and can go on with objects and projects which will have at their heart a poetical function. The Dolce Stil Novo is today represented by something of which I was always very aware, a style that could blend artistic research with experimentation, poetical autobiography with the needs of industrial or semi-industrial production for a communication easy to understand. Dolce Stil Novo means forms and shapes which help us all feel better and comfortable here and now, keeping in mind what Ettore Sottsass Jr used to say: We need strength and courage boys! As we are only beginning
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Lapo BINAZZI, born in Florence in 1943, completed his architectural degree in 1971. In 1967, with Foresi, Maschietto, Bachi and Cammeo, he founded UFO, a group which found its place in the experimental climate of Radical architecture. Together, they participated in numerous international exhibitions, such as the "XIV Milan Triennale" (1968), the "Paris Biennale" (1971) "Contemporanea" in Rome (1974), the "Venice Biennale" (1978). In 1973, together with UFO, Binazzi was one of the founders of Global Tools, a workshop for experimental architecture. After the UFO experience, Binazzi continued his activity as an architect-artistdesigner, taking part in many exhibitions, such as "Alchimia" in Florence (1981), "Documenta 8" in Kassel (1987), and "II Dolce Stil Novo della Casa" in Florence (1991). His research considers design as a pure communication phenomenon, and is based on the attempt to make art coincide with design experimentation.
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Essen (H. Stern)

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(Chevalier, Mezzalovo). specialized districts ModenaFerrariMaserati LamborghiniGucciFerragamo PradaChanelBrianza

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l'air du temps
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DESIGN AS ADDED VALUE

Sergio FINTONI
We might say that every country has its own particular approach to design: German design is in favour of the technical aspects of the product as it is easy to realize in the Design Zentrum in Essen; Danish and Scandinavian designs, on the other hand, are very closely associated to tradition, simplicity of lines and workmanship of materials such as wood and glass. Therefore, they all have a strong image of reference. Italian design, on the contrary, has always distinguished itself for critical research, an intellectual challenge ready to face new experimental fields, with a strong speculative attitude towards society. It is really impossible to identify Italian design, or nowadays it would be better to call it Italian international design, except for its intrinsic qualities related to quality and aesthetic values. The defence of these peculiarities is fundamental to create value in the economic exchange and the role of design becomes essential to create an added value in relation to the global market. In the most developed countries the cost of labour is very high and therefore it is impossible to compete with products made in developing countries where labour is much cheaper. The only way that companies can survive and actually do well is aiming at the top range of the market, where prices are scarcely a factor of choice. Naturally, to be at the top, it is necessary to be continuously innovative and proactive. Innovation can be of two kinds: innovation of production processes and formal innovation. Both are closely connected with the design process; in fact they derive from it, as it is often impossible to have formal innovation without having first experimented with new production techniques for only the latter will allow to achieve the requested image for final product. The creative process in design is definitely a fundamental asset for production in post-industrial economies where the quality and the uniqueness of the object are the variables on which to build competitiveness within international markets. The differential values will be substantial if the products can
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present a very strong discrepancy and stimulate curiosity and interest. People love products that can tell a story, that can suggest dreams, and this is also why the shops, where high level design objects are sold, are always increasingly more elegant and rich-looking, because you cannot buy dreams in a supermarket. Design is the basic ingredient of luxury. Luxury is not only a state of physical well being but must also include a state of metaphysical, spiritual and mental well being (H.Stern). And where else can you reach this state if not in your house, or in your office, surrounded by beautiful objects? In hotels too, as more and more often they also present themselves as designer boutique hotels. To design in Italy means to develop an attitude toward the world around us, to consider the relationship between production and labour forces, to analyze the distribution of resources putting, in the process, specific final attention to the search for wellbeing, a condition to which we all aspire, not as producers or consumers but as individual human beings. To design means to create a project, to concretely materialize a product as a result of an activity which has to take into consideration the final end and the final consumers and users. Design is a territory of invention and innovation. Italians have managed to reach a level of excellence which attracts attention and admiration, by having a pragmatic and yet inventive approach to project making where the creative part prevails on the still existing critical one with both imagination and concreteness. A determining factor of success has also been the strong alliance between designers and entrepreneurs, mostly based on a very personal level of friendship and respect, both of them aware that only a close collaboration could lead to growth and expansion.
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The designer has also become a brand himself, giving authority to the products which bear his name, considering himself not only a creator of objects but an artist, thinker, communicator, global strategist. Italian design is also important because of its origin, being the result of a vast heritage where creativity is not a fruitless exercise but is deeply associated with an extraordinary capacity to be concrete thus creating products rarely futile. An excellence understood as a unique ability to unite idea to manual, inspiration to practical. The capacity to give each single artifact an emotional value which is perceived thanks to a valence which even goes beyond aesthetics and quality, but reaching a deeper level of involvement and therefore giving a value which is not connected to the real intrinsic one. This prerogative is a strong and powerful factor of success in marketing: to reach an impact on the potential customer based on their willingness to be seduced. Moreover given that mass market products are gradually upgrading their appearance and approach, it is even more important for luxury goods to work harder to stay ahead. Therefore design has to be always more a part of the worlds of the arts and into the cultural scenes of the moment (Chevalier, Mezzalovo). To talk about a design system is to be aware of the necessity of widespread presence of activities, competences, actions and products which are functional and essential for developing an economic system based on design. This is why in Italy we are in the presence of the so called specialized districts where the raising of a production of specific quality products has opened the space for creating all sorts of supporting industrial or semi-industrial activities. This is so, for example, for the luxury motor car industry in the district of Modena (home of Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini) , or the Leather district near Florence, producing for Gucci, Ferragamo, Prada, Chanel etc, and in the Brianza district , near Milano, for design furniture.
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The changing economies, and an always improved standard of living have helped to create a market for excellence products and even more so in the Asian market where there has been also a need of social reassurance for people who, only recently, have reached a high income level. The number of magazines dedicated to Design have increased and also more generic ones are allowing more and more space to it. This has increased the awareness for good products with an elegant, sophisticated image. Italy was exceptionally well prepared for the needs of these new markets. It could offer a wide range of products, it had marketing experts which had already been very successful first in the European market and then in the American one, and basically it could offer objects which had the feeling of luxury due to the unique mixture of industrial production and handcraft. Moreover, it had the advantage of an image already linked with luxury thanks to the Fashion brands, the luxury cars and boats, the excellence of the cuisine and the fame of its ancient beautiful cities. Most companies are also very flexible, having mostly concentrated on design and product development and relying for production on a myriad of small units in the district which specialize in different fields, such as woodwork, plastic injections, leather furniture and so on. Therefore when in the last few years there have been new requests running in the market, there has been no problem for them to adapt themselves. The market is very sensitive to what we might call lair du temps or the spirit of the time. So we went from a need for high tech - the pleasure of being surrounded by steel and crystal, shiny and rigorous - to the search for high touch - softness and polished wood.
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Now, like in fashion, everything is acceptable as long as quality and design qualify the status of the object confirmed by a signature. However there is all over the world a new awareness about ecological issues and the concept of sustainability which has extended itself to include economical and social aspects. So all the stakeholders are trying to do their part : industries are making an effort to increase efficiency in the production controlling their environmental performances introducing clean working processes, the designers are making projects which take into consideration various problems such as the disposals of the objects when they have finished their working cycle , the use of ethical materials etc, while the final consumer will recognize an added value to products which conform to the standards of sustainability. There is a definite interest in ecology in a wide sense of the term, so we have objects made of recycled materials, or that can be easily recycled and some consumers are even concerned about how they can be a part of the recycling process. In the future there will be more and more demand for design products and particularly luxury ones as more countries achieve higher economic levels and also acquire an improved taste for beauty and there will be more and more contaminations between the arts and design with the protagonists changing roles in fruitful exchanges and definitely Italy will still go on playing a strong and important role.
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fil rouge

GARDEN

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Studio Anzilotti Associati (Carlo Anzilotti)(Cristina Benedettini) Better City, Better Life 2010
checkroom
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PRESENTING AN EXHIBITION OF ITALIAN DESIGN IN ASIA

Carlo ANZILOTTI & Cristina BENEDETTINI, Studio Anzilotti e Associati
Presenting an Italian design exhibition in Asia means building a bridge between basically different cultures, trying to communicate an Italian identity which includes in the materials and in the products a high aesthetic dimension, which in turn reflects a high threshold of life quality. The idea of the representation is to convey this message by making the exhibition rich in contemporary images and elements which can involve Asian visitors. According to the collective imagination, the values associated with the Italian Way of living are to dress well, to eat well to be surrounded by beautiful objects creating a pleasant environment in an original and unique landscape. But nowadays there are also new components such as care for the world around us, sustainability of the projects, their cultural impact. We have also been thinking about the empathic, affective, emotional aspects of the relation we have with the objects which are a part of our everyday life influencing our moods. The location and the space of the exhibition are definitely an important element in planning the installation. Museums are like islands inside cities which are alive and productive; and these islands too must be full of life and present exhibitions which can stimulate the visitor by continuously presenting new moments of interest and participation. The philosophy of the Exhibition Dolce Stil Novo, which does not want to be a mere showing of design pieces, is to provoke or intercept a desire, to seduce with images that can reflect a particular mood, to build an atmosphere of a special domestic landscape. The spaces are composed of a succession of pictorial frames which can suggest not only the use of the objects but also an interior state of mind, structured as a way of living, of thinking, of being.
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In the tradition of the literary movement Dolce Stil Novo love was considered the base of every artistic expression, and nowadays, when we are surrounded by ever growing amounts of technology, love is even more of an essential element for the success of a project. We like to think that it is the fil rouge, the red thread, uniting all the best objects of design in general and particularly the Italian ones. We tried to make all these emotions alive in a physical space in order to allow the visitor a series of intimate moments when, maybe unconsciously, he can let himself dream. The concept for the exhibition is developed through a thematic idea, a strong scenography, an installation where everything is made to measure, with a multi media communication and a selection of contemporary representative image elements such as an Italian Piazza with arcades, green vegetation which climbs the walls of the Museum, floral totems; essentailly a mix of sensations following one another. Our research for these visual elements was conducted by looking at artistic and poetical phenomena on the border between functional and sign values; very sophisticated creations which are characterized not only by originality but also by the care in the choice of materials, colours and workmanship; works where there is a synergy between the aesthetic and the technological aspects of the materials which have been used. We were aware of the need to show advanced technology and design and to find a synthesis with level craftsmanship, to integrate culture and territory, art and science, past history and future. We then thought of creating a narrative itinerary which allows visitors to wonder in a real domestic landscape made of objects and images, colours and emotions.
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LIVINGROOM
Graphics and coordinated visual images must take into consideration the theory of form and visual perception, particularly constructive graphics, the generating element being a superimposed and rhythmic horizontal line. The result is a graphic sign with a geometric connotation, immediately recognizable. The colours are the same that identify an Italian landscape in the contemporary world. At the end of our project we thought we managed to offer an image of our cities and of the Italian way of living as close as possible to reality but with a cultural component which is addressed specifically to the Asian visitor who, we know, has a very distinctive sensibility requiring great amounts of information to feed its desire for knowledge.
Studio Anzilotti Associati Carlo Anzilotti and Cristina Benedettini are the two partners of the Studio. They have been working since a few years in various fields of Architectural research ranging from City landscapes to Shop design. They have participated to the Shangahi World Expo 2010 in the Italian Pavillion with a new concept of urban renewal. The studio is particularly concerned with projects that take into consideration social and environment conditions.
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PRESENTAZIONE AZIENDE

We have decided to include in this book the stories of the companies present in the exhibition "Dolce Stil Novo". We think that it is interesting to know the story of some industries which are essential to the image of the Made in Italy. We have used their own presentations in an uncritical mode because we think that this is an interesting way to understand the messages that these companies want to give and explain in their own words the success not only of their products but essentially the success of the image they have managed to create.
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CONTEMPORARY ART IN ITALY-An Essay

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018 Dolce Stil Novo-

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97 123 ArtStudio Anzilotti Associati

Enjoy Life the Italian Way

13 (Dolce Stil Novo) Dolce Stile Novo 1972 123ART

DOLCE STIL NOVO

Dolce Stil Novo-

The Etymology of Dolce Stil Novo

The Etymology of Dolce Stil Novo

Roma quartiere EUR, Palazzo della Civilt Italiana, 1940

Le Corbusier, Poltrona Le Grand Modele, 1929

Castiglioni Brothers AulentiBoeriMariMunari

Piaggio, Vespa, 1946

Innocenti, Lambretta, 1947

Marzo Zanuso for Artflex, Lady Chair, 1951

2002 Pitti ImmagineEnt Art Polimoda20073 2010 Franco Angeli20055 20104

Paolo Caccia Dominioni for Azucena, Lampada Azucena, 1958

THE ORIGINS OF ITALIAN DESIGN

Palazzo della Triennale1933

Milano, Palazzo della Triennale, 1933

Gi Ponti for Cassina, Dormitio Lunge, 1950

THE ORIGINS OF ITALIAN DESIGN

Fiat, 500, 1957

Bialetti, Moka, 1933

Iso, Isetta, 1952

THE ORIGINS OF ITALIAN DESIGN

Brionvega Radiocubo Ts 5221964

Achille and Giacomo Castiglioni for Zanotta, Mezzadro, 1957

THE ORIGINS OF ITALIAN DESIGN

Joe Colombo for Kartell, Sedia, 1965

Achille Castiglioni, Lampada Arco, 1962

Michelangelo Pistoletto, Venus of Rags, 1967

Mario Schifano, Al Mare, 1979

Alighiero Boetti, Avere Fame di Vento

Mario Merz, Luoghi Senza Strada, 1987

Gilberto Zorio, Stella, 1991

CONTEMPORARY ART IN ITALYAn Essay

Lucio Fontana, Concetto Spaziale, 1953

Enrico Castellani, Superficie Bianca 22, 1963

CONTEMPORARY ART IN ITALYAn Essay

CONTEMPORARY ART IN ITALYAn Essay

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VB 522003 Castello di Rivoli

Vanessa Beecroft, VB 52, 2003, Performance, Castello di Rivoli

Roberto Cattelan, Bidibidobidiboo, 1996

Artists in the Exhibition

Artists in the Exhibition

Artists in the Exhibition

Artists in the Exhibition

Artists in the Exhibition

Toti Scialoja 1990 1989 2010Sentieri Selvaggi

1976 Pietro Vannucci19992005 San Luca

Artists in the Exhibition

Leonardo BETTI (New Media Artist)

Artists in the Exhibition

Marco Piero PAOLINI

A Short History of Italian Fashion

A SHORT HISTORY OF ITALIAN FASHION

A SHORT HISTORY OF ITALIAN FASHION

A SHORT HISTORY OF ITALIAN FASHION