The Museum of 21st Century Art (MAXXI), best known for its Zaha Hadid-designed building, began its partnership with Alcantara, a manufacturer of the eponymous nonwoven fabric, back in 2011. A series of collective contemporary design exhibitions followed, but since last year the format has changed to the so-called Studio Visit - "visit to the workshop." One or another designer is offered to choose a hero from the past from the museum's collection - and to devote an exhibition to him. The only condition is the use of Alcantara material. In 2018, Nanda Vigo “entered into dialogue” with Paolo Soleri, and in this the young duo Formafantasma (Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin) gave an “imaginary master class” by Pier Luigi Nervi.
The exposition is based on photographic index cards from the Nervi archive, which is kept in MAXXI: in the great engineer's office there was a metal cabinet with 4315 photos for 130 projects laid out in order, glued to thick paper forms. They allow you to learn a lot about the creative process, as well as about the implementation of Nervi's plans. In addition, among them one can find "samples" for his work - and not only Gothic architecture, which has always been the most important landmark for him, but also temples of the Greek archaic and even caves with stalactites and stalagmites. Also, the curator authors used data from technical tests conducted by Nervi and audio recordings of his lectures.
It is impossible to consider Nervi separately from the material chosen by him for most of his projects - concrete in versions of reinforced concrete and reinforced cement invented by him. In his buildings, he constantly expanded both his technical and expressive capabilities. That is why the engineer was so inspired by Gothic, where a working structure is inseparable from the aesthetic, emotional impact of architecture, and, in his own words, "cold technique and burning passion are inextricably linked."
The echoes of the perpendicular Gothic vaults mesmerizing with their geometry can be found in the ceilings of the Olympic Great and Small Sports Palaces in Rome (1960), the columns of huge cathedrals are reminiscent of the "umbrella" pillars of the Palace of Labor in Turin (1961), such analogies are even more appropriate for the roof of the papal audience hall at the Vatican (1971). The versatility that concrete acquired in Nervi's work, the designers of Formafantasma compare with the “malleability” of the material Alcantara, widely used in the exhibition, with its ability to serve different functions and in different contexts, depending on the creative intent. The role of effective material that meets the needs of its era sometimes becomes dominant, bringing additional content to the author's idea: after all, “the medium is the message”.
Installation "Nerves in the making" will be included at the end
exhibitions on April 14, 2019 to the collection of the MAXXI museum.
