Gianni Pettena e Marco Pace | IO SONO LA SPIA
“Radical” in architecture and design refers to a way of going to the root of any strategy through revisions of conceptual platforms and language, on the basis of a shared intent (but with autonomous perspectives). Gianni Pettena and Marco Pace are present and in direct confrontation, revealing dialogues and differences.Gianni Pettena, placed, due to his origins, in the framework of ‘radical architecture’ (with Sottsass, Mendini, Branzi, Natalini, Ufo, Archizoom and Superstudio), immediately distinguishes himself as an ‘anarchitect’ and as ‘the spy’, emphasising the more specific elements, in his process of disciplinary encroachment between architecture and environmental art.Marco Pace, who has been collaborating for years with Gianni Pettena in the realisation of works and installations in the most important museums around the world, has been evolving his own language for years through drawings and paintings in which he notes contemporary architecture contemporary architecture and examples of today’s design confront each other in empty spaces. The human presence disappears, giving place to animals and cold, isolated works of man.
The title of the exhibition, curated by Massimiliano Scuderi, originated from a famous photo that portrayed the group of designers of Global Tools – an experimental and multidisciplinary design didactic programme – and used for the cover of Casabella magazine no. 377 of May ‘73. On this occasion the phrase became an enigmatic title, full of linguistic references and allusions.
The exhibition at the A Sud space opens on 6 April 2024 at 6 p.m. and will remain open until 27 July.
For the occasion from 9 p.m. at the Urban Gallery space, the Rumble sofa, one of Pettena’s masterpieces from ‘67, will be on display by Pettena, an occasion born from the collaboration between A SUD, Fondazione Zimei, Urban Gallery and the Poltronova company.
Gianni Pettena
He is one of the founders, in the late 1960s in Florence, of the ‘radical architecture’ movement together with Superstudio, Archizoom, UFO. In 1972 he held his first solo exhibition at the John Weber Gallery in New York.
In the following years he devoted himself to both his artistic and academic activities, often investigating the connections between the proposals of the younger generations and the legacy of the experimentation begun in the 1960s. The works of Gianni Pettena, in particular the works from the so-called ‘American’ period (1972) and the many drawings whose visionary nature has since often translated into prophetic reality, are valuable as much for their specificity and uniqueness within the radical experimentation of the 1960s and 1970s as for their influence on the world of architecture, design and of contemporary art thereafter. His work has been presented in museums and institutions such as: the Centre Pompidou in Paris (1978), the Venice Biennale (1996), the Mori Museum in Tokyo (2004), the Barbican Center in London (2006), the PAC in Milan (2010), and the Museion in Bolzano (2008, 2014 and 2017).
Marco Pace
After graduating he met and collaborated with Gianni Pettena and since 2007 has supervised the realisation of the installations of the An-architect (Manifesta7, Athens Biennial, FIAC, Artissima, PAC, UMOCA Salt Lake City, CRAC Occitanie, galleries private galleries etc.). He has taken part in numerous exhibitions at national level, among the most recent solo exhibitions: Non finirò stanziale, 2017, curated by M. Scotini, Galleria Bonelli, Milan; Bocs Art, 2018, curated by Giacinto di Pietrantonio, Cosenza; Proloco #2, History of Galleria Neon Bologna, group exhibition curated by Gino Gianuizzi; Galleria Laveronica, Modena, 2019; My Little sweet home, 2020, Il Crepaccio, curated by Caroline Corbetta, Tableaux Vivants, curated by Luigi Presicce, Mattatoio di Roma, 2021, Ogni pensiero vola, curated by Serena Trinchero PIA Palazzina Indiano Arte, Florence, 2022 ; Party, artistic residency curated by Matteo Innocenti, Laportineria, Florence, 2022, No Neon No Cry, curated by Gino Gianuizzi, MAMBO, Bologna, 2022; Expectations, together with Marco Pio Mucci, Caterina De Nicola and Valerio Nicolai, A Sud, 2022, curated by M. Scuderi. He collaborates as an illustrator with Frankenstein magazine in Milan.
Gianni Pettena e Marco Pace | IO SONO LA SPIA
“Radical” in architecture and design refers to a way of going to the root of any strategy through revisions of conceptual platforms and language, on the basis of a shared intent (but with autonomous perspectives). Gianni Pettena and Marco Pace are present and in direct confrontation, revealing dialogues and differences.Gianni Pettena, placed, due to his origins, in the framework of ‘radical architecture’ (with Sottsass, Mendini, Branzi, Natalini, Ufo, Archizoom and Superstudio), immediately distinguishes himself as an ‘anarchitect’ and as ‘the spy’, emphasising the more specific elements, in his process of disciplinary encroachment between architecture and environmental art.Marco Pace, who has been collaborating for years with Gianni Pettena in the realisation of works and installations in the most important museums around the world, has been evolving his own language for years through drawings and paintings in which he notes contemporary architecture contemporary architecture and examples of today’s design confront each other in empty spaces. The human presence disappears, giving place to animals and cold, isolated works of man.
The title of the exhibition, curated by Massimiliano Scuderi, originated from a famous photo that portrayed the group of designers of Global Tools – an experimental and multidisciplinary design didactic programme – and used for the cover of Casabella magazine no. 377 of May ‘73. On this occasion the phrase became an enigmatic title, full of linguistic references and allusions.
The exhibition at the A Sud space opens on 6 April 2024 at 6 p.m. and will remain open until 27 July.
For the occasion from 9 p.m. at the Urban Gallery space, the Rumble sofa, one of Pettena’s masterpieces from ‘67, will be on display by Pettena, an occasion born from the collaboration between A SUD, Fondazione Zimei, Urban Gallery and the Poltronova company.
Gianni Pettena
He is one of the founders, in the late 1960s in Florence, of the ‘radical architecture’ movement together with Superstudio, Archizoom, UFO. In 1972 he held his first solo exhibition at the John Weber Gallery in New York.
In the following years he devoted himself to both his artistic and academic activities, often investigating the connections between the proposals of the younger generations and the legacy of the experimentation begun in the 1960s. The works of Gianni Pettena, in particular the works from the so-called ‘American’ period (1972) and the many drawings whose visionary nature has since often translated into prophetic reality, are valuable as much for their specificity and uniqueness within the radical experimentation of the 1960s and 1970s as for their influence on the world of architecture, design and of contemporary art thereafter. His work has been presented in museums and institutions such as: the Centre Pompidou in Paris (1978), the Venice Biennale (1996), the Mori Museum in Tokyo (2004), the Barbican Center in London (2006), the PAC in Milan (2010), and the Museion in Bolzano (2008, 2014 and 2017).
Marco Pace
After graduating he met and collaborated with Gianni Pettena and since 2007 has supervised the realisation of the installations of the An-architect (Manifesta7, Athens Biennial, FIAC, Artissima, PAC, UMOCA Salt Lake City, CRAC Occitanie, galleries private galleries etc.). He has taken part in numerous exhibitions at national level, among the most recent solo exhibitions: Non finirò stanziale, 2017, curated by M. Scotini, Galleria Bonelli, Milan; Bocs Art, 2018, curated by Giacinto di Pietrantonio, Cosenza; Proloco #2, History of Galleria Neon Bologna, group exhibition curated by Gino Gianuizzi; Galleria Laveronica, Modena, 2019; My Little sweet home, 2020, Il Crepaccio, curated by Caroline Corbetta, Tableaux Vivants, curated by Luigi Presicce, Mattatoio di Roma, 2021, Ogni pensiero vola, curated by Serena Trinchero PIA Palazzina Indiano Arte, Florence, 2022 ; Party, artistic residency curated by Matteo Innocenti, Laportineria, Florence, 2022, No Neon No Cry, curated by Gino Gianuizzi, MAMBO, Bologna, 2022; Expectations, together with Marco Pio Mucci, Caterina De Nicola and Valerio Nicolai, A Sud, 2022, curated by M. Scuderi. He collaborates as an illustrator with Frankenstein magazine in Milan.
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