A series of boxes, or rather cases, containing a variety of objects are displayed on hexagonal structures formed by yellow hair curler-like cylinders. Their shape calls to mind honeycomb cells, their colour contrasts with the blue-purple walls of the room where they are displayed.
Some of the objects inside the cases may have been 3D printed, others seem to be assemblages of pre-existing bits and pieces, like sponges or glass jars, at times recombined with hand-made ceramic pieces. Most of them are characterized by bright colours, while the objects inside one of the cases are all covered in sparkling gold paint.
A Makita tool case opens up to reveal not the usual hammer drill, but a microcosm of houses and flats populated with tiny and anonymous white figures engaged in a variety of actions.
Welcome to "Microtools: The Invisible Synapse", an installation by KooZA/rch in collaboration with multidisciplinary collective (ab)Normal, at Milan's Alcova (Via Popoli Uniti 11-13; until today) as part of the local Design Week.
The micro-exhibition is an attempt at presenting how ideas and inspirations are developed: KooZA/rch invited a group of architects, designers and creative minds to use Duchamp's "Boîte-en-valise", a portable miniature monograph of the artists’ work, to present their case of inspirations, contained within a maximum volume of 40x40x15cm.
The cases included in the installation – by Andrew Kovacs | Archive of Affinities, Bureau Spectacular, COOKIES X GHL with the support of Potier Stone, Edouard Cabay, Irina Kirchuk, KOSMOS, Lemonot, Superpoly, Studio Mutt, and Takk Architecture – contain therefore a variety of half-finished and unfinished objects. Here there are metallic spheres that may or may not transform one day into domes; there you will spot tubes that may become columns or miniature urban landscapes that may turn into ideal cities of the future.
These "micro tools" are random inspirations collected every day by the creatives involved in this project: they may be digital images seen on the social media, emotions or recollections, but they represent data stored into their minds that remain unseen by other people. The objects on display in this installation represent therefore a physical rendition of these ideas that leave an imprint on the creative minds. They invite visitors to leave behind the immaterial randomness of the digital platforms à la Instagram or Pinterest in which we get daily trapped, to return to the physical world.
It is indeed after standing for a while in front of these objects that you understand that the container and the contained are not relevant, branches and leaves or a plastic case bought on eBay, aren't indeed important for what they are, but it is the process of collecting these objects and rearranging them in that particular way that is the key to unlock the real meaning of the installation and grasp how the creative process develops.
"Microtools" can also be read as a journey through colours, materials and shapes: this is a parallel dimension, physical and real, yet entirely imagined, made of artificial objects and architectural debris.
Last but not least, the moods and colours behind this imaginary and imaginative set point at the work of the Italian radicals, architects à la Dario Bartolini, Gilberto Corretti and Andrea Branzi from the Archizoom group, who introduced in the '70s a new way of making and thinking architecture.
Image credits for this post: Photographs by Louis de Belle
1 and 2. Installation views
3. Libidinal Perspectives by Lemonot
4. Augustus needs a Baby by Bureau Spectacular
5. Holiday Kit by SuperPoly
6. Swear Jar by Studio Mutt
7. The Unknown City by Irina Kirchuk
8. OK Valise, Proposal for Collective Living III by Andrew Kovacs
Comments