Francesca Molteni's "SuperDesign" documentary is a sort of 12" edit of the history of Italian radical design, sampling 19 protagonists of this iconic movement.
On today at the Cinépolis Chelsea (260 West 23rd Street, NYC), as part of the ninth edition of the Architecture & Design Film Festival (ADFF), curated by Kyle Bergman (the festival closes today), the film is part of a wider project that also includes a book curated by freelance journalist and independent design curator Maria Cristina Didero.
Chronicling an incredibly energetic, bright and creative decade from 1965 to 1975, the documentary - featuring several pioneering designers and rare never-before-seen archival footage - presents a plurality of voices.
As it opens we meet happy designers à la Lapo Binazzi from the UFO group, who still creates objects injecting in them a childish glee; then there are artists such as Piero Gilardi, who is still politically engaged, and architects à la Dario Bartolini, Gilberto Corretti and Andrea Branzi from the Archizoom group, who are happy to have been part of a revolutionary period of time.
Molteni, who studied Philosophy at the University of Milan and then focused on Film Production at New York University, has been working for the Italian National TV channel Rai in the last few years, producing documentaries and programmes about design.
Her passion runs in her veins and her DNA: Francesca is indeed the granddaughter of Angelo Molteni, a well-known furniture entrepreneur who also contributed in launching the Salone del Mobile event in Milan.
Molteni's background and family obsession are definitely injected in the documentary: she seems to be at home with the designers she meets, filming and interviewing them in their natural environments - from their studios to the factory still producing some of the most iconic pieces ever created by the radicals. The architects and designers involved gladly tell their stories, at times they seem to be moved to tears, while their voices and quotes become the soundtrack to photographs and footage that help putting the story into context.
Radical Design took place in Italy during very politically tumultuous times: the radicals seemed to share their views with progressive groups tackling social and political issues.
As the story develops, Molteni looks at the differences between the groups in Turin and Florence, attempting to give a definition of the word "radical".
According to Ugo La Pietra, radicals divide in three groups: those ones who don't want to work for the society they are living in because they do not share its values; those who do not contribute to the society surrounding them and therefore look for a utopian society and, last but not least, those ones who work in a society to highlight its mistakes and eventually subvert its values.
This is the path La Pietra took, but also other groups and collectives such as pioneering Superstudio: while La Pietra tried to make architectures with his own body or through performances, Superstudio used art tools to make architecture, producing photographs and collages, and conceiving architecture as a stage (Ettore Sottsass inspired these groups to make architecture with emotions).
Gruppo Strum's Pietro Derossi mentions in the documentary the fact that at the time architects were not interested in designing buildings recognised by the establishment such as museums, but they wanted to create more striking environments such as discos and clubs, spaces where new relationships were forged and innovative ideas were tested.
Together with Giorgio Ceretti and Riccardo Rosso, Derossi designed the interiors for the Piper club in Turin. The three creative minds also came up with the super iconic "Pratone", an unconventional crazy seat reproducing giant blades of grass.
The "Pratone" was produced by Gufram, a company that created further iconic pieces such as Studio 65's striking "Bocca", a lip-shaped sofa, and "Capitello", "Attica" and "Attica TL", a giant Greek column that could be broken up into different pieces and used as seats.
The company also manufatcured Franco and Nanà Audrito's "Leonardo", a modular sofa that played around with the American flag, symbol of the American dream and of a dystopian reality (designed in 1969, the sofa still looks relevant...), and Guido Drocco and Franco Mello's foam coat rack "Cactus".
Made of polyurethane foam, a material frequently used by the radicals, these pieces played a lot on surrealism: they looked playful with their bright and bold colours, but their dramatic proportions and shapes didn't go well with the more conventional interior design of those times.
The documentary also shows how the radicals were celebrated at New York's MoMa in 1972 with an iconic exhibition - "Italy: The New Domestic Landscape".
Italian radical designers left an important legacy behind them as a lot of contemporary creatives are still inspired by them: Rem Koolhaas' practice is based and informed by Superstudio's principles; Gufram has often been reproducing some of its most iconic pieces by the radicals, reissuing them in some cases as collaborations with fashion houses, this year the "Bocca" sofa was for example recreated in an exclusive version for Moschino.
Yet, while the mainstream seems to have accepted the radicals and even stolen ideas from them, quite a few of the original protagonists of the story haven't conformed at all: at the very end of the documentary Piero Gilardi whispers that "la ribellione è possibile" (the rebellion is possible) and somehow you know that he is speaking the truth and may also be ready to join the revolution the minute the camera stops filming him.
Image credits for this post
1. "SuperDesign" by Francesca Molteni, Poster Detail
2. Portrait of Archizoom Associati in front of their studio in Via Ricorboli, Florence, 1968. From left to right: Paolo Deganello, Lucia Bartolini, Massimo Morozzi, Natalino Torniai (a collaborator), Dario Bartolini, Gilberto Corretti, Andrea Branzi. Image courtesy of Studio Andrea Branzi.
3. Globo Tissurato lamp, Ugo La Pietra, 1966-67, produced by Poggi. Image courtesy of Ugo La Pietra Archive, Milan.
4. Wearable Chairs performance, Gianni Pettena, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1971. Image courtesy of Gianni Pettena.
5. & 6. Archival photograph of Superonda, Archizoom Associati, 1966. Image by Dario Bartolini, courtesy of Centro Studi Poltronova.
7. Pratone lounge chair, Pietro Derossi, Giorgio Ceretti and Riccardo Rosso, 1966, produced by Gufram starting in 1971; still in production. Photo by Joe Kramm.
8. Original advertising photograph for Pratone lounge chair, Pietro Derossi, Giorgio Ceretti and Riccardo Rosso, 1966, produced 1971 by Gufram. Photo by Ugo Mulas, courtesy of Pietro Derossi.
9. Safari sofa shown with San Remo floor lamps, Archizoom Associati, 1967/68, produced by Poltronova. Photo by Joe Kramm.
10. Cactus coat rack, Guido Drocco and Franco Mello, 1972, shown with Sassi seating system, Piero Gilardi, 1967, produced 1971, both still in production by Gufram. Photo by Joe Kramm.
11. Group of lighting designed by Superstudio: O-Look, 1968, produced by Poltronova; Passiflora, 1966, produced by Poltronova; Lampada Alabastro, 1972; Polaris Excelsior, 1967, produced by Poltronova. Photo by Joe Kramm.
12. & 13. L'Altro Mondo nightclub, Rimini, interior designed by Pietro Derossi and Giorgio Ceretti, 1967. Image courtesy of Pietro Derossi.
14. Casa Gufram, pictured in the 1973 catalog. Image courtesy of Axel Iberti, Gufram Archives.
15. & 16. Puffo stools by Ceretti, Derossi and Rosso in the theater at the Italian Pavillion for the XIV Triennale, Milan, 1968. Image courtesy of Pietro Derossi.
17. Penta-bidet in Studio 65 stand at the Eurodomus 4 Expo in Turin, 1972. Image courtesy of Franco Audrito, Studio 65 Archive.
18. La Maison Introuvable installation featuring Studio 65 furniture and Juncta tiles, 1974. Image courtesy of Franco Audrito, Studio 65 Archive.
19. Pave Piuma, Piero Gilardi, shown in the 1973 Gufram catalogue. Image courtesy of Axel Iberti, Gufram Archives.
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