Andrea Zittel's Radical Habitat Redesign at Palazzo Pitti

Andrea Zittel, a California-born artist, presented her work at Palazzo Pitti in Florence from June 18 to July 16, 2010, in an exhibition that contrasted sharply with the venue's Mannerist decor. Zittel, known for her Living Units since 1991, founded A-Z Administration Services, a name referencing her initials and Arizona's area code, to explore radical habitat reduction. Her practice, rooted in her youth near Western deserts and her time in New York, led her to establish a base near Joshua Tree in the Mojave Desert. The exhibition included a burned and bullet-riddled Wagon Station (Hal McFeely's Unit, 2003), a tire, and a gas can on sand, illustrating her photo-narrative Small Liberties (2003). A custom wallpaper, Wall Sprall, replaced traditional damask tapestries with a satellite view of California industrial zones. Carpet Furniture indicated furniture placement. Zittel also displayed A-Z Smockshop Uniforms (1998-2008), made from natural or recycled materials, and prototypes for carpets and wooden memo boards. Her concept of a 'raugh' lifestyle (a portmanteau of raw and rough) aims for a single-thread existence, as in Prototype for Billboard at A-Z West: Single Strand (2006).