Fondazione Marcello Morandini Opens in Varese with Group Show
The exhibition titled "Arbeitskreis 1972-2022. Un’esperienza costruttiva europea" has been launched by the Fondazione Marcello Morandini and will be open until November 5 in Varese. This group show showcases more than 40 pieces created by 20 artists hailing from 16 different countries, highlighting graphics and documents from the Iafkg, a constructive art collective that operated for roughly a decade starting in 1972. Established in 2016, the foundation resides in the renovated Liberty-style Villa Zanotti, a project by Corrado Tagliabue. Marcello Morandini, born in 1940, began his artistic journey in 1964, participating in significant exhibitions such as the IX São Paulo Biennial in 1967 and Documenta 6 in 1977. The foundation's funding began with a €1.6 million donation from two benefactors, which later grew to €3 million.
Key facts
- Exhibition 'Arbeitskreis 1972-2022. Un’esperienza costruttiva europea' runs until November 5 at Fondazione Marcello Morandini in Varese.
- Over 40 works by 20 artists from 16 nations are displayed.
- The Iafkg group was active from 1972 for about ten years, organizing around 15 symposia.
- Fondazione Marcello Morandini was established in 2016 and opened in Villa Zanotti after three years of renovation by architect Corrado Tagliabue.
- The villa has nearly 1,000 square meters over four floors and a large park.
- Marcello Morandini's first solo show was in 1965 in Genoa curated by Germano Celant.
- Morandini participated in the IX São Paulo Biennial in 1967 and had a personal room at the Venice Biennale in 1968.
- He was invited to Documenta 6 in Kassel in 1977.
- His first major retrospective was at Die Neue Sammlung in Munich in 1993.
- Two European-American patrons from Lucerne donated 1.6 million euros, later increased to 3 million, to fund the foundation.
- A lithograph portrait of Philip Rosenthal by Andy Warhol is in the exhibition.
- Morandini designed a 64-meter facade for Rosenthal's administrative building in Selb.
- Morandini still uses traditional tools like a pen, square, and drafting machine.
- He works with a workshop in Le Marche for plexiglass.
- His works are classified by numbers starting with N°1 from 1964.
- Notable works include the Bine chair, Posseduta bench (1998), and porcelain chess set for Rosenthal.
- The catalog is published by Silvana Editoriale with text by Marco Meneguzzo, to be released in July.
Entities
Artists
- Marcello Morandini
- José Bréval
- Béatrice Bréval
- Ewerdt Hilgemann
- Antoinette De Stigter
- Peter Lowe
- Matti Kujasalo
- Alberto Zilocchi
- Fraçois Morellet
- Germano Celant
- Gillo Dorfles
- Andy Warhol
- Roy Lichtenstein
- Salvador Dalí
- Marco Meneguzzo
- Corrado Tagliabue
- Philip Rosenthal
- Maria Teresa Morandini
Institutions
- Fondazione Marcello Morandini
- Iafkg (Internationaler Arbeitskreis für Konstruktive Gestaltung)
- Silvana Editoriale
- Villa Zanotti
- Die Neue Sammlung
- Rosenthal
- Sawaya e Moroni
- Remuzzi
- Galleria d’Arte Moderna (Rome)
- Ca’ Pesaro (Venice)
Locations
- Varese
- Italy
- Mantua
- Genoa
- São Paulo
- Brazil
- Venice
- Kassel
- Germany
- Ingolstadt
- Munich
- Ludwigshafen
- Weissenstadt
- Norimberga
- Bayreuth
- Rome
- Lucerna
- Switzerland
- Selb
- Vienna
- Budapest
- Amburgo
- Le Marche