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An exhibition that celebrates the influential work of the celebrated Italian designer and artist.
Following a series of large-scale, international exhibitions that included The World of Charles and Ray Eames and Balkrishna Doshi: Architecture for the People, artistic industrial heritage site and creative hub C-mine will present the Enzo Mari curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist with Francesca Giacomelli exhibition. Previously shown in 2020 during the Triennale Milano, the expo will include never-before-seen projects, drawings, posters, models, and films from the Enzo Mari Archive. “With Enzo Mari, we are bringing a design legend to C-mine. Mari’s work has not lost relevance over the years. Even today, he can inspire us to design and build ourselves, combining the beautiful with the useful,” says Louise Osieka, director at C-mine.
The celebrated Italian designer, artist, theoretician, and winner of 5 Compasso d’Oro awards, is perhaps best-known for his designs that were specially created to be as affordable and as accessible as possible. For example, Proposta per un Autoprogettazione (Proposal for a Self-Design) offered a free user’s manual for DIY furniture making. With 16 Animali, or 16 Animals, he created a series of timber animals. Made from single pieces of wood, the objects fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. Apart from his design work, Mari was also an artist, illustrator, and author. Museums that include his work in their permanent collections include MoMA in NYC and the Louvre in Paris. The Enzo Mari curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist with Francesca Giacomelli exhibition includes a chronological overview of Mari’s work as well as research work, sketches, models, and prototypes.
Additionally, the show will feature a series of contributions from contemporary artists and designers. New installations and designs that pay homage to Enzo Mari will include work by OpenStructures, Tacita Dean, Adrian Paci, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Mimmo Jodice, Danh Vo, Nanda Vigo, and Virgil Abloh. The show will also feature documents and video interviews that showcase Mari’s approach to design. Enzo Mari curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist with Francesca Giacomelli will run from from 11 February until 28 May 2023. Images courtesy of C-mine.
