November 25th, 2021 – March 26th, 2022
Opening: Thursday November 25th, 15.30-20.30
In the Garden of Eden. A landscape of things with Alessandro Mendini and friends.
Curated by Stefano Casciani, based on an idea of Antonio Colombo
Alessandro Mendini always made collaboration with others a central part of his work: artists, architects, designers, artisans, musicians, writers… From the editorial staff of the legendary magazine Casabella to his year of the “New Utopia” with Domus, from Studio Alchimia to Atelier Mendini, from products for Alessi to the Groninger Museum, there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of names with whom he worked on the idea that groups and associations, no matter how heterogeneous, can generate small and large aesthetic revolutions.
The exhibition In the Garden of Eden (the Earthly Paradise that also appears in one of his philosophical diagrams), based on an idea of Antonio Colombo and curated by Stefano Casciani with the cooperation of Elisa and Fulvia Mendini, brings together works by some of the figures who accompanied Mendini in projects on many different scales.
The result is the symbolic formation of a very new group, representing the variety and originality of individual attitudes and ideas, which Mendini was often able to discover and spread.
In the exhibition and its catalogue, the works on view – paintings, drawings, sculptures, ceramics, glass, furniture and objects, one-of-a-kind pieces or editions – converge to define an intellectual, cultural and physical landscape of authors that represent an important presence on the scene of art and design, in Italy and on an international level.
This is thus a demonstration of the “Mendini Theorem”: the idea that collective work can trigger achievement, generating important new creations and having a long and happy life, when every project is open to other voices, as in a grand Gesamtkunstwerk of visions, forms and people.
The Authors:
Vincent Beaurin, Massimo Caiazzo, Arduino Cantafora, Stefano Casciani, Carla Ceccariglia, Pierre Charpin, Riccardo Dalisi, Michele De Lucchi, Massimo Giacon, Anna Gili, Bruno Gregory, Alessandro Guerriero, Maria Christina Hamel, Jaime Hayon, Dorota Koziara, Alex Mocika, Occhio Magico, Mimmo Paladino, Franco Raggi, Karim Rashid, Studio Job, Oscar Tusquets.
The show also includes new editions by Alessandro Mendini.
Exhibition design: Alex Mocika
Catalogue: Stefano Casciani with Aloisia Resch and Diletta Piemonte
