Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities has been an influential text to architects, artists and designers. The enigmatic cities that Marco Polo describes to Kublai Khan are representations of Polo’s experience of Venice as well as Calvino’s projection of modern cities. The descriptions of the cities provide vivid imagery that are open to each reader’s imagination. The success of the text in forming the imagined places relies on how a reader can project their experiences onto it.
Mirabilia invited international artist, architects and designers to interpret Italo Calvino’s “Invisible Cities” into models/sculpture within a 200mm x 200mm dimension. Contributors represent their interpretation of a city from the book through physical mediums of their choosing. 55 cities are exhibited, bringing the book into physicality. The interpretations shown in Mirabilia elaborate on the relationship of space and written word, creating original languages to communicate the immaterial. The show invites you to get lost through the doors and archways, catching surprises of golden fragments, and glimpses of the sky as specular reflections of water move with the breath of the wind.
participants
Michael Lynge, (dp)aSTUDIO, Jingyi Zhang, Diogo Aguiar Studio, David Umemoto, Sonelo Architects, Atelier EGR, Adam J. Fan, UNO8A + Bronzo, Conrad Willems, Gaelen Pinnock, Järfälla, Jaeger Koechlin, Douwe Meuldijk & Vincent Ringoir, Mary Duggan Architects, gosplan architects, Daniele Ragno, Jon Thomas, ErranteArchitetture, Di Hu, Lorenzo Guzzini, Johan Hermijanto, Ashley Davis, Jesslyn Humardani, Ryo Yamada, Rosmaninho+Azevedo – Arquitectos, Outpost Office, Francesco Lipari / OFL Architecture, VERS.A, Office of Adrian Phiffer, La Macchina Studio, ETB with Clara Machado, PIA, SUMMARY, Ciro Priore / Martina Russo, Norell/Rodhe, A+M2A, Warehouse of Architecture and Research, UAU project, PARTI, Bonell+Dòriga, tykk design, Sevak Asatrián, Arcipelago – Architettura Collettiva, Skälsö Arkitekter, João Carlos Alves, LINEARAMA, Jurtin Hajro – commonsense.studio, Dayne Trower + Simona Falvo, Roberto Monte, Giulia Gazza, Jordi Hidalgo Tanè, Strider Patton
location
Torrione Angioino, Bitonto (BA)
curators
Fabiana Dicuonzo, John Gatip, Giuseppe Resta
exhibition design
PROFFERLO architecture
graphic design
M-I-R-A-G-E Design Studio
