It is always exciting rediscovering artists through dedicated retrospectives that can help younger generations getting acquainted with works they may not know yet.
Nanda Vigo has for example been going through a sort of Renaissance recently: last year her works were featured in the exhibitions "Object of desire: Surrealism and Design 1924 - Today" at Vitra Design Museum and "Mondo Mendini - The World of Alessandro Mendini" at the Groninger Museum, while Milan's Palazzo Reale organised a retrospective entirely dedicated to her entitled "Light Project" that invited visitors to step into her sci-fi universe (she is definitely into sci-fi and the future as proved by the logo of her archive - the silhouette of Star Trek's Enterprise...).
A more compact but equally intriguing version of that same retrospective, is currently on at MACTE in Termoli, Italy (until 16th May). Organised in collaboration with the Nanda Vigo archive, the event has got a special connection with the city as, in 1976, Vigo won the Termoli Award with a work entitled "Sintagma" (Syntagm).
The work consisted in a geometrical figure made of glass, mirror and neon lights that was inspired by the Greek word "σύνταγμα", meaning composition, a term used by Ferdinand de Saussure to define the linguistic combinations of two or more units.
The work is back on display in Termoli where it represents a unifying element between two sections of the exhibition. The first one is dedicated to the "Triggers of the space", works made from the '70s till today that revolve around the artist's search for new spaces.
These works are dynamic, but they do not have a final purpose, they just exist to create relationships with other forms surrounding them.
The second group of works is characterised by more vibrant hues and colours and includes also "Light Progressions, Trilogy: Omaggio a Gio Ponti, Lucio Fontana e Piero Manzoni" (Light Progressions, Trilogy: Homage to Gio Ponti, Lucio Fontana and Piero Manzoni, 1993), glass and neon artworks representing totemic tributes to two artists and one architect.
Light remains the unifying element between space and time in all Vigo's works and in particular in her mesmerising luminous geometrical paintings, sculptures of lights conceived a bit like "stargates" - futuristic design portals to other universes.
Image credits for this post
Nanda Vigo
Trigger of the space (1974)
Photo credit: Aldo Ballo
Courtesy Archivio Nanda Vigo
Nanda Vigo
Trigger of the space (1974)
Photo credit: Aldo Ballo
Courtesy Archivio Nanda Vigo
Nanda Vigo
Light progressions. Omaggio a Lucio Fontana (1993)
Courtesy Archivio Nanda Vigo
Nanda Vigo
Light progressions. Omaggio a Piero Manzoni (1993)
Courtesy Archivio Nanda Vigo
Nanda Vigo
Light progressions. Omaggio a Gio Ponti (1993)
Courtesy Archivio Nanda Vigo
Nanda Vigo
Light Progression. Trilogy
Image credit: Marco Poma
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