Concept
The ADI Design Museum is delighted to present an exhibition curated by Pierluigi Nicolin, Gaia Piccarolo, Nina Bassoli and Maite García Sanchis which compares two great exponents of design and architecture in a completely new way
“A new exhibition that lays the foundation for a reflection on made in Italy design and its values” says Luciano Galimberti, President of ADI Associazione per il Disegno Industriale. Dedicated to Marco Zanuso and Alessandro Mendini, the exhibition produced by ADI Design Museum is characterized by a focus on their ability to enhance the relationship between design and architecture. In addition to the comparison between the choice of the design method of the one and the postmodernist procedure of the other, aimed at the poetic reworking of given images, the exhibition presents a deeper consideration which highlights how the professionalism of both developed through attention dedicated to a wide range of spheres in two different but complete visions. Evidence of this gap between them appears immediate if we look at the respective formal and aesthetic outcomes, yet through their works a number of reflections emerge, accentuated by the possibility of admiring them simultaneously and precisely because they are placed opposite each other, they stimulate an interplay of references, contrasts and influences.
“Going beyond the Italian context itself” underlines curator Pierluigi Nicolin “we can see how Zanuso’s ‘strong’ modernist themes and Mendini’s ‘weak’ postmodernist ones are based on the ability to invalidate the premises from which they start and, through the particular “sentimental journey” that unites them, we can see how each ends up by denying in his own way the existence of an insurmountable boundary to his own experience”.
The exhibition consists of twelve sections symmetrically divided into six plus six, which develop along the central space of the museum. Comfort, New Aesthetics, Large Scale, Modular Construction, Innovation and Stone Walls are dedicated to Marco Zanuso while Alchemies, Global Toys, Decorations, Museums, Homes, Text and Image are dedicated to Alessandro Mendini. The end of the itinerary features a special installation in the spaces dedicated to the Compasso d’Oro Career Award, where two episodes offer both a view of the iconic portraits by Roberto Sambonet and a synthesis of the life and works of the two men.
