Gian Piero Frassinelli's 'Design e antropologia' explores anthropology's role in design

Gian Piero Frassinelli, a member of the radical Florentine collective Superstudio since 1968, has published a new book titled 'Design e antropologia' with Quodlibet. The volume collects themes from his lectures at IED Rome, where he uses video to foster non-hierarchical communication inspired by Jacques Rancière and Yan Thomas. Frassinelli applies anthropological methods from Marcel Mauss and Claude Lévi-Strauss to architecture and design, critiquing modernist planning through projects like Superstudio's 'Monumento Continuo' (1969). He draws on Victor Papanek's 'Design for the Real World' (1971) to advocate for social responsibility, inclusion, and sustainability against overproduction. The book revisits the 1972 MoMA exhibition 'Italy: The New Domestic Landscape' curated by Emilio Ambasz, highlighting Enzo Mari's refusal to participate and his statement on class struggle, which Alessandro Mendini called 'the conscience of designers.' Frassinelli criticizes Italian critics Francesco Dal Co and Manfredo Tafuri for dismissing the Radical movement, noting that a 40th-anniversary exhibition curated by Luca Molinari, Peter Lang, and Mark Wasiuta never found an Italian venue. The book concludes with reflections on migration, citing Franco La Cecla's 'Mente Locale' on multi-belonging, and includes a contribution from Frassinelli's son Ben.