AtolloArte

Michelangelo Pistoletto, Mimmo Paladino, Enzo Cucchi and Ettore Spalletti – four great names in contemporary art – have been called upon to “pay homage to the Magistretti lamp by creating their own interpretation based on it, which portrays their understanding of the meaning of Art”. (Nicola di Battista).

The selection of these names is linked to a project presented some years ago at the Milan Triennale, ‘Arch and Art’, where the same artists – together with the recently deceased Janis Kounellis – were flanked by an equal number of architects to create a kind of City of Art.

From the link between art and architecture to the link between art and design. AtolloArte is, in fact, a play on words, a witty combination between the word Atollo (which in Italian means atoll) used to describe the design product and, like the island, its position on the shores of Art. The lamp is the starting point for the work and, at the same time the common thread that holds together all the works, defining a closed island-like area, an atoll.

The result – in the words of the curator, di Battista – “is a sincere tribute, and not one for the sake of appearances, to the iconic Atollo shape, reinterpreted through the different visions of the artists who, in all seriousness, lent their participation in this playful reworking.”

Among the works, Oluce previews the work of Michelangelo Pistoletto, a reinterpretation where the artist has chosen to add another shape to the original, which compels us to think critically about the very idea of artificial light.

The project will be presented during the Fuorisalone week in Via Conservatorio 22, inside the courtyard of a historic Milanese palazzo also designed by Magistretti, adjacent to the home/studio of the Vico Magistretti Foundation.

The installation, designed by Ferruccio Laviani, recreates the worlds central to the project; that of art and that of design. In fact, the layout maintains, on the one hand, a museum-like format – emphasising the artistic importance of the works – while evoking the concept of the home, a reference to the true world of design.

Moreover, beside the artists’ projects, the company wanted to pay homage to the Atollo by creating a version of the lamp in exquisite Portoro marble, a piece unique that substitutes the metal and glass normally used in its production with the precious stone from Porto Venere.