Il Design Italiano Oltre le Crisi: Autarchia, Austerità, Autoproduzione. Italian Design Beyond the Crisis: Autarky, Austerity, Autonomy:
2015; Oxford University Press; Volume: 28; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1093/jdh/epv023
ISSN1741-7279
Autores Tópico(s)Diverse academic and cultural studies
ResumoThere is no shortage of interest in Italy’s design culture. The contributions of twentieth-century maestri such as Gio Ponti and Ettore Sottsass continue to command attention today thanks to a continuous stream of books, magazines and exhibitions. Even if you are not familiar with Italy’s design culture, the ubiquity and uniformity of its largely celebratory storytelling cannot go unnoticed. Among the most striking things then about opening Italian Design Beyond the Crisis: Autarky, Austerity, Autonomy are the surprises it contains. Instead of spotlighting design ‘icons’, a series of photographic spreads emphasizes the unusual and the unknown, from an all-wooden bicycle to a chicken-wire chimpanzee. This unexpected line-up mirrors the eponymously titled exhibition the catalogue accompanies, which opened at Milan’s Triennale Design Museum in April 2014. 1 You immediately sense this story’s difference; this is a welcome exploration of some of the more obscure and overlooked elements of Italian design. Italian Design Beyond the Crisis is the seventh in a series of Triennale exhibitions, beginning in 2007, which have explored different aspects of Italian history. Behind number seven is the architect, critic and researcher Beppe Finessi, aided by co-curator Cristina Miglio and designer Philippe Nigro. Responsible for the appearance of both book and exhibition is Italo Lupi, himself a celebrated Italian graphic designer. The result is impressive: the book runs to 400 pages illustrated with over 600 works, many of which have been unearthed from individual designers’ archives.
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