Leonor Antunes + Albers, Ponti

“the last days in Galliate” is the first major exhibition in Italy of the work of Leonor Antunes, conceived as a complex site-specific installation that fills the 1,400 square meters of the space known as the Shed in Pirelli HangarBicocca: the works, many of which are new productions, converse with the context structural elements and natural lighting, thus merging in a single narrative.
Milan and its rich Modernist tradition, in particular the work of architects Franca Helg (1920-1989) and Franco Albini (1905-1977), are the source of great inspiration for this artist, who weaves these tales with the cultural heritage of companies as Pirelli and Olivetti and the projects realized with the manufacturing house Vittorio Bonacina—today known as Bonacina1889—active in the production of furniture and other items made with rattan and rattan-core. The Shed is transformed by an intervention that covers the floor with a linoleum intarsia, inspired by a design by artist Anni Albers (1899-1994), whose colours hark back to the iconic floor designed by the architect and designer Gio Ponti (1891-1979), realized in 1960 for the Pirelli skyscraper in Milan.

https://pirellihangarbicocca.org/en/exhibition/leonor-antunes/

http://moussemagazine.it/leonor-antunes-last-days-galliate-pirelli-hangarbicocca-milan-2018-2019/

Manthia Diawara + Prouvé

 

Manthia Diawara
Maison Tropicale

4 February — 29 March 2009


Between 1949 and 1951, Jean Prouvé, one of the greatest designers of the 20th century, was commissioned to produce three prototype prefabricated tropical houses, intended to address the shortage of housing in the French colonies of West Africa. Les Maisons Tropicales were fat-packed and being lightweight, components could be carried by just two men.

Mali-born filmmaker Manthia Diawara, Professor of Comparative Literature and Film at New York University and Director of the Institute of African-American Affairs, brings to life the hidden stories of these buildings. Acting as a complement to Ângela Ferreira’s project on Les Maison Tropicales, shown at the 52nd Venice Biennale in 2007, Diawara’s film takes us to the houses’ original sites in the Republic of Congo and Niger. Only these prototypes exist.

Their remarkable history saw them removed from their African homes, dilapidated and bullet-ridden, only to be returned to France, restored and sold on for millions; a far cry from their original utopian function and social context.

Through interviews with Ferreira, government officials and former owners of the properties, Diawara examines notions of cultural patrimony and illuminates issues surrounding African identity, art within the context of post- colonial debate and the legacy of modernism.


https://www.ikon-gallery.org/event/maison-tropicale/

Leonor Antunes + Albini, Helg, Masieri, Scarpa, Trincanato.

a seam, a surface, a hinge or a knot. Engaging the histories of art, architecture, and design, Leonor Antunes reflects on the functions of everyday objects, contemplating their potential to be materialised as abstract sculptures. a seam, a surface, a hinge or a knot continues Antunes’ interest in the work of important figures in the Venetian context, such as Carlo Scarpa, Savina Masieri and Egle Trincanato. Antunes is interested in how craftsmanship traditions from various cultures intersect within this history. Elements of the exhibition are fabricated with Falegnameria Augusto Capovilla, one of the still-active Venetian carpentries that worked closely with Scarpa. The exhibition engages the history of Masieri’s commissioning of Frank Lloyd Wright and Scarpa, and the designs of Trincanato, the author of a study on popular Venetian architecture.

https://www.dgartes.gov.pt/pt/node/2179