Opening on May 25th , at Morton Street Partners, a reception will be held for artist Cristian Chironi’s Manhattan Stop exhibition, part of his New York Drive performance series. Manhattan Stop is the continuation of the event organized by Magazzino Italian Art in October 2021, a year of particular importance, as it marked the 50th Anniversary of the Fiat 127 designed by Pio Manzù in 1971. The event was organized in conjunction with a special exhibition held by Magazzino Italian Art dedicated to Costantino Nivola, Nivola: Sandscapes. Cristian Chironi hails from the village of Orani in Sardinia, the same as Costantino Nivola, who was the initial inspiration behind Chironi’s project.
The Manhattan Stop exhibition will feature Chironi’s Chameleon Fiat 127 (which is the same make, model, and year as the one Nivola owned), as well as photographs, collages, sculptures, video documenting the the New York Drive performance, as well as brand-new works by the artist. For this event, Chironi collaborated with renowned jazz musician – and fellow Sardinian — Paolo Fresu, on a series of tracks that will play from the Chameleon Fiat 127’s stereo along with recordings that were commissioned by Chironi himself.
With this project, Chironi explores the relationship Swiss-French modernist architect, Le Corbusier — a lifelong friend of Nivola — had with different cities through documented travels in a Fiat 127. Through these travels, the automobile was painted in a series of colors specific to each location driven through according to the architect’s palette. Some of the cities in which these drives took place have been Milan, Bologna, Bolzano, Marseille, and La Chaux-deFonds. Now in New York, and through Manhattan Stop, Chironi explores emotions associated with the experience of gazing out the window during each of the New York drives, telling collective and personal stories as he travels across diverse landscapes.
The opening reception will be held on May 25, 2022 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at Morton Street Partners (16 Morton St Garage, New York, NY 10014). An RSVP is required and can be made to moc.nuodiv@PVSR. The exhibition will be on view until August 13, 2022.
