
Triennale Milano and Memphis Milano present Memphis Again, an exhibition directed and curated by Christoph Radl, to be held in Curva gallery at Triennale from May 18 to June 12, 2022.
The exhibition presents more than two-hundred pieces of furniture and objects (bookshelves, dividers, vetrines, toilette furniture, dining tables, countertop tables, coffee tables, desks, chairs, couches, sofa beds, table lamps, appliques, floor lamps, chandeliers, ashtrays, flower pots, fruit bowls, fabric accessories, rugs) in the most diverse selection of materials (wood, plastic, laminate, glass, ceramic, porcelain, silver, steel, fabric) produced between 1981 and 1986 for the Memphis collection.
The objects will be displayed in chronological order in the Curva gallery, which is more than 100 metres long, just like a fashion show in which the observer will be the one moving along the catwalk in a space that, thanks to the furniture and the music by Seth Troxler, feels like a nightclub. Quotes by critics, architects and designers will be projected on the walls.
The exhibition is neither an homage nor a historicization. Its objective today, just as it was back then (1981), is that of directing the attention on the expressive and cultural possibilities of a design that goes beyond marketing. Memphis was born with the desire to adjourn the language of design and architecture. An alternative proposition to a design that is imagined especially to solve industrial functional problems, while underlining the emotional, psychological side and aspect of the issue and of the discipline. Each designer, for example, was free to design what they wanted, without any restrictions. Later, when it shifted from being a cultural necessity to becoming, as expected, “projects and prototypes”, a company to distribute and sell was founded. And it worked.
Barbara Radice stated in 1981: “Memphis does not deny functional utopia, but it looks at functionality with a wider vision, more as an anthropologist than as a marketing specialist. Function therefore not only in respecting ergonomic norms or salability statistics, but also in respecting a vision of public necessity, a historic push.”
And Ettore Sottsass: “I would have loved to suggest a sort of non-cultural iconographic, a culture that belongs to no one (not an anonymous culture), but the iconography of a culture that is not used and not usable, not because it doesn’t exist, not even because it is not utilized, but because it can’t be looked at, because it is not considered, because it doesn’t belong, because it looks like it doesn’t exist in known culture, and maybe it doesn’t even produce culture. These areas of non-culture, these areas of “no one’s culture” do exist.”
The need to get rid of certain conventions is still very contemporary. Sottsass: “The fact is that we no longer are scared: I mean the fear of having to represent or not represent something or someone, élites or derelicts, traditions or boorishness. We no longer fear what the past sends along nor do we fear what the more aggressive future sends.”
The importance of Memphis for the world of design can also be seen in Triennale's Museo del Design Italiano, where the display ends in 1981. With objects, photographs and graphic materials, it offers a special focus on how this cultural movement marked the start of a new era in the production of design both in Italy and around the world
The Institutional Partners Eni, Lavazza, Salone del Mobile.Milano, and the Technical Partner ATM are giving their support to Triennale Milano also for this exhibition.
starring (in ordine di apparizione): Ettore Sottsass, Michele De Lucchi, George J. Sowden, Martine Bedin, Andrea Branzi, Shiro Kuramata, Marco Zanini, Matteo Thun, Peter Shire, Aldo Cibic, Nathalie Du Pasquier, Gerard Taylor, Masanori Umeda
special guests: Arquitectonica, Michael Graves, Hans Hollein, Arata Isozaki, Javier Mariscal soundtrack by Seth Troxler
MEMPHIS
Memphis was born from a cultural movement initiated by Ettore Sottsass and e Barbara Radice with the intention of giving life to products he designed and to products designed by a group of young architects and designers with whom he interacted, among which Aldo Cibic, Marco Thun, Marco Zanini, Martine Bedin, Michele De Lucchi, Nathalie Du Pasquier and George Sowden. Memphis was born as a lab for the development of new project ideas and soon became a cultural phenomenon. With Ettore Sottsass as the point of reference for the group, and with Barbara Radice as Artistic director, the first collection was presented at Salone del Mobile in 1981. From the start, Memphis’ design has represented a new expressive concept that is tied to new shapes, new materials, new patterns, and that has redesigned living habits by revolutionizing their logic and conquering the design world. Memphis continues to influence the public’s taste in the fashion industry, in cinema and in television. To this date, Memphis’ liberating spirit is a source of inspiration for many.
Title: Memphis Again
Opening: May 12, 2022
Ending: June 12, 2022
Organization: Triennale Milano
Curator: Christoph Radl
Place: Milano, Triennale Milano
Address: Viale Emilio Alemagna, 6 - 20121 Milano
Tickets: 12 Euros (Full) / 10 Euros (Reduced)
Triennale Milano opening hours:
Tuesday – Sunday
11 am – 8 pm (last admittance 7 pm)
Triennale Milano - special opening hours
Friday, June 3 to Sunday June 12:
Extended opening of exhibitions; 11 am-9 pm (last entry 8 pm) Triennale will remain open to the public on Monday, June 6
More info on this website: https://triennale.org/
Other exhibitions in Milano and province
Contemporary artexhibitions Milano
Kim Bartelt. Blinds
2025 first appointment of Cadogan SOLO exhibition programme, presenting the minimalist works with geometric silhouettes by German artist Kim Bartelt.
Lombardia, Milano
Aiko Miyawaki. Sculpture 1966-1969
Studio Gariboldi presents the solo exhibition of Japanese artist Aiko Miyawaki, a display featuring a core collection of brass sculptures, in Milano from November 15 to January 28, 2025.
Lombardia, Milano
Contemporary artexhibitions Milano
Carla Prina
On Tuesday, 28 January 2025, Tommaso Calabro inaugurates Carla Prina at its Milan gallery, in Corso Italia 47.
Lombardia, Milano
Contemporary artexhibitions Milano
Patrizio di Massimo | Friends, Foes, Beds and Beaus
Friends, Foes, Beds and Beaus, Patrizio di Massimo's first solo show at the Giò Marconi gallery.
Lombardia, Milano
Contemporary artexhibitions Milano
Sam Lock. Stanza
Cadogan Gallery inaugurates its 2025 exhibition programme with the return of Sam Lock to the Milanese venue of the gallery.
Lombardia, Milano
Contemporary artexhibitions Milano
Bizhan Bassiri. Creazione
Bizhan Bassiri. Creazione, curated by Bruno Corà, is the first major solo exhibition of the Italian-Persian artist (Tehran, 1954) that BUILDING Gallery is hosting in its spaces.
Lombardia, Milano
Contemporary artexhibitions Milano
Giorgio Vigna. Cosmografia (Cosmography)
Giorgio Vigna. Cosmografia [Cosmography], is the artist's solo exhibition, which, in the spaces of BUILDING TERZO PIANO, is presented as a two-dimensional and three-dimensional fresco.
Lombardia, Milano
Contemporary artexhibitions Milano
Metamorphoses. Chiara Crepaldi & Melania Toma
ABC-ARTE is pleased to present the dual exhibition Metamorphoses by Chiara Crepaldi and Melania Toma.
Lombardia, Milano
Contemporary artexhibitions Milano
Valerio Adami. Rethinking Reality
Dep Art Gallery is pleased to announce the exhibition "Valerio Adami. Rethinking Reality," curated by Lorenzo Madaro.