Art Colors Design is the exhibition that, from 7 to 22 October 2023 at the ADI Design Museum in Milan, will retrace Saporiti Italia’s historic collaboration with Studio Salvati and Tresoldi, highlighting the close relationship between art, architecture and design of which Salvati and Tresoldi’s work was a forerunner, particularly through the use of colour. The exhibition will highlight precisely the concepts of Art, Colour, Design, but also, and at the same time, how “Art Colours Design”.
The exhibition in the museum’s Compasso d’Oro Hall will be narrated by drawings, publications, images and historical objects that were born from this design encounter and produced by Saporiti Italia in the 1980s.
Saporiti Italia’s exhibition continues the story of its collaborations with important architecture and design studios, which began last autumn with the exhibition ‘100+1. Alberto Rosselli for Saporiti Italia’, also at the ADI Design Museum. The exhibition was realised in collaboration with Studio Architetti Associati Salvati of Milan.
The exhibition itinerary develops inside the Compasso d’Oro Hall, highlighting the peculiarities that characterised the design encounter between these two companies, starting from the close relationship between art, architecture and design. An intuition, forerunner at the time, that Salvati and Tresoldi’s work was able to develop both with the creation of historic furnishing objects produced in the 1980s by Saporiti Italia – such as the Omaggi and Diana chairs, the Geometric and El Lissitksy tables and the Miamina armchair, exhibited together with drawings and publications – and with memorable experiences such as the ‘Moderno e Moderno’ exhibition at the Galleria del Milione.
Graduating in 1960 from the Milan Polytechnic with Carlo De Carli, promoter of the concept of primary space, i.e. the fundamental space of living, Alberto Salvati and Ambrogio Tresoldi developed their work in the refutation of the principles of the rationalist movement and, in particular, Le Corbusier’s machine for living.
They transformed living spaces from ‘primary spaces’ into ‘spaces of freedom’, changing the concept of the living cell from a refuge environment to an open stage for the spectacle of everyday living.
With their work between 1960 and 1980, Salvati and Tresoldi animated the Milanese cultural scene, bringing the confluence of art and architecture to the centre of their research, especially through the use of colour.
Gio Ponti, who directed the magazine Domus in those years, understood and published Salvati and Tresoldi’s research on the evolution of the living cell, also valorising their working method, based on the principle of interdisciplinarity, on collaboration between architects, artists, craftsmen and art industries.
Parallel to the story of Salvati and Tresoldi’s research on architecture and design, the Saporiti Italia exhibition dedicates an important section to the re-edition of the historic Miamina chair (Honourable Mention at the Compasso d’Oro Award in 1985) in a new version inspired by 20 cities around the world: Miami, Milan, Rome, Venice, Paris, London, Barcelona, Berlin, Monte Carlo, New York, Los Angeles, Dubai, Riyadh, Lagos, Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Sydney.
The covers of the armchairs dedicated to the ‘Saporiti Cities’ are made by the Fosca Milano art workshop with precious fabrics, yarns, weaves and embroideries, inspired by the characteristics of each of the cities where Saporiti Italia has realised important furnishing projects. The 20 Miaminas will be auctioned by Cambi Casa d’Aste: the proceeds will go to the cultural and social activities of the Cento Studi e Ricerche Sergio Saporiti.
The exhibition “Art Colors Design” is accompanied by a catalogue published by Quodlibet in Italian and English.
7 – 22 October 2023
ADI Design Museum
Piazza Compasso d’Oro 1, 20154 Milan
Monday – Thursday / h. 10.30 – 20.00
Friday closed
Saturday – Sunday / h. 10.30 – 20.00
Press Preview: Friday, 6 October 2023 10:30 a.m.
Opening: Saturday, 7 October 2023 6:30 p.m.
Auction 20 Cities
Information, how to participate, terms and conditions of sale of the Auction at:
www.cambiaste.com
design@cambiaste.com
