The Magazzino gallery in Rome hosts “Macchine Inutili”, a double solo exhibition of Bruno Munari (1907-1998) and Gianni Colombo (1937 – 1993), a generational comparison of two of the most visionary artists of the 20th century. With his interdisciplinary approach, Munari has long challenged critics in the difficulty of ‘pigeon-holing’ his work into a genre, having experimented in painting, cinema, industrial design, graphics and much more, all rooted in passion and pedagogical experience. The younger and equally visionary Gianni Colombo recognised Munari as a master. A relationship of mutual esteem was immediately established between them, which the exhibition celebrates curated by Marco Scotini, in collaboration with art advisor Filippo Percassi.
Gianni Colombo looks at Munari as a master and a relationship of mutual esteem is established between them. Some of the documents on display in a notice board at the entrance to the main exhibition space leave traces of two important events that sealed the relationship between the two artists. In 1960, on the occasion of the first Mirorama1 exhibition of Gruppo T (founded in 1959 by Colombo, Giovanni Anceschi, Davide Boriani and Davide de Vecchi, later joined by Grazia Varisco), Munari was recognised as a Maestro (together with Fontana, Tinguely, Manzoni and Baj). Two years later, Colombo and Group T are invited by Munari to participate in ‘Arte programmata, arte kinetica, opere moltiplicate, opera aperta’, a historic travelling exhibition that from the spaces of the Olivetti shop in Milan travelled to Rome, Venice, Genoa and Trieste, and later to galleries and museums in London, Japan, Germany and various cities in the United States. It was on this occasion that the name ‘programmed art’ appeared, a term used by some of the groups’ exponents, including Munari and Colombo, in the Almanacco Letterario Bompiani in 1962 and taken up by Umberto Eco himself in his historic essay that accompanied the exhibition at the Olivetti shop.
“Munari’s “Negatives – Positives” and his sketches are part of reflections carried out during his time in the MAC group (1948-48). Geometrical objects interpenetrate one another within regular structures, creating alternating sequences. One can focus on the drawn or coloured areas based on the viewpoints. Background and foreground change on the basis of viewpoints.
Colombo’s “Elastic Spaces”, present here in small-format versions but often realised as environments where space is punctuated around the arrangement of elastic bands, shift the discourse to an architectural plane. Perception and its instability, and thus interaction with the visitor, take centre stage and are the leitmotif of the generational confrontation.
‘Useless machines’ is the title of the exhibition but also the series of works Munari has been producing since the 1930s, works yes but above all a vision of a creative approach that strips the machine of all functionality and utility in order to free itself in the field of imagination and experimentation, to learn. This spirit runs through and unites the two artists and immediately makes clear the relationship between master and pupil where everything takes on meaning (and form) in the beholder and his perceptive stumbles-
Market interest in kinetic art has fluctuated over time with rather abrupt variations. The first disbandment of the numerous groups formed in those years followed their success in the 1960s. It could not have been otherwise given that movements and groups that revolved around these ideals were born in the name of avant-garde projects that in their scientific approach, planned thinking and creation of multiples for a greater and more accessible dissemination of works, stood in stark contrast to the market. Kinetic art has returned to the centre of market interest at various times, particularly between 2010 and 2016.
Market interest in kinetic art has fluctuated over time with rather abrupt variations. The first disbandment of the numerous groups formed in those years followed came soon after their success in the 1960s. It could not have been otherwise given that movements and groups that revolved around these ideals were born in the name of avant-garde projects that in their scientific approach, planned thinking and creation of multiples for a greater and more accessible dissemination of works, stood in stark contrast to the market. Kinetic art has returned to the centre of market interest at various times, particularly between 2010 and 2016.
For a few years now, more works by Op Art, Kinetic and Programmed Art, have returned to exhibitions. What is interesting to consider, beyond market issues, is how important it can be today, when the fascination with technology runs parallel to the terror of losing control of it, to reconsider these experiences in the light of the motivations that animated them, to go back to the origin of an interest that stemmed from curiosity about science, about technology, about the relationship with the machine, about a reality that was already in the midst of metamorphosis at the time.
Macchine Inutili. Bruno Munari and Gianni Colombo, curated by Marco Scotini, in collaboration with Filippo Percassi.
Magazzino Gallery, Rome, until February 28, 2024
images (all): Macchine Inutili. Bruno Munari and Gianni Colombo, Magazzino Gallery, exhibition view, ph: Photo Credit Giorgio Benni, courtesy of Magazzino
