Enzo Mari Curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist With Francesca Giacomelli

After a delayed opening due to COVID19, the exhibition Enzo Mari curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist with Francesca Giacomelli opened on October 17, 2020, and it will remain open until April 8, 2021. It examines the work over the 60-year career of Italian architect, designer, and theorist Enzo Mari.

The exhibition has two sections, a historical one and one in which international artists and designers participated with site-specific commissioned works. In the historic section, the exhibition showcases notable design projects, some of Mari’s highly successful and omnipresent design objects, lesser-known designs from his personal archive, as well as compelling and thoughtful examples of this work as an artist. This historical section includes works such as Proposta per un’autoprogettazione; works emanated from his long and fruitful collaboration with the Italian design studio Danese–such as the Formosa wall calendar and the centrotavola made out of Murano glass; and the art installation L’Allegoria della Morte–first exhibited at GAM, Galleria d’arte Moderna, in 1988.

Curator Hans Ulrich Obrist, who is the artistic director of the Serpentine Galleries, invited an impressive group of artist and designers who contributed with interesting pieces that gave contexts to this historical exhibition. The exhibition includes works from Virgil Abloh, Tacita Dean, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Adelita Husni-Bey, Mimmo Jodice, Dozie Kanu, Adrian Paci, Barbara Stauffacher Solomon, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Danh Vō, and artist and designer Nanda Vigo. Nanda Vigo’s contribution to the exhibition consisted of a beautiful light that reinterpreted Mari’s famous designs for kids the Animali and Pesci jigsaw puzzles. This was also Nanda Vigo’s last work as she died shortly after finishing this light.

This retrospective exhibition of Enzo Mari’s work was the last one during the life of the influential thinker, designer and artist. Enzo Mari died two days after the opening on October 19, 2020.

Nanda Vigo Installation for the exhibition of Enzo Mari by Hans Ulrich Obrist at La Triennale de Milano

Autoprogettazione table by Enzo Mari at design and furniture gallery Casati Gallery

Glass plate made of mouth-blown and ground multicolored Murano glass.

Black Panther poster, design by Enzo Mari for Danese Milano.

Enzo Mari - Putrella - tray manufactured by Danese - Enzo Mari article picture

Enzo Mari Putrella tray by Danese