As the city celebrates the 13th edition of New York City Design Week, the Italian Cultural Institute of New York has opened Reimagining the Everyday Landscape, an exhibition celebrating two protagonists of Italian design: the late Gaetano Pesce, who passed away last year, and Gianni Pettena. Both emerged during the radical era of the 1960s and 1970s, but the two Italians’ work continues to influence the international landscape with different but complementary approaches, united by an innovative vision of everyday space.
“Today we are celebrating not just design, but real art: with this exhibition we pay tribute to the creativity, color, innovation and functionality that have made Italian design unique, through the works of masters like Gaetano Pesce,” said Fabrizio Di Michele, Consul General of Italy in New York, in welcoming attendees. “Pesce,” he added, “who lived in New York, is deeply missed in this city: with his vision he left an indelible imprint. We rejoice instead that Pettena, at 85, continues to be an active witness of Italian art and design.”
Curated by Sebastiano Tronchetti Provera, in collaboration with the Gaetano Pesce Estate, the exhibition will be open to the public until June 15.
A world-renowned architect and designer, Gaetano Pesce’s legacy continues to influence the world of art and design through his unconventional use of materials and appreciation of imperfection. Several pieces on display in the ground-floor rooms of the Italian Cultural Institute come from his New York home: a coffee table marked by the halo left by a glass, and a worn Feltri armchair from 2018, made from a vintage quilt selected by Raf Simons, then creative director of Calvin Klein, now co-director of Prada.
Recounting the value of these works is Giulia Tosciri, personal assistant to the master for more than 15 years and now curator of the Gaetano Pesce Estate, an archive that by the end of the year will be transformed into a foundation dedicated to promoting and protecting the artistic legacy of the Italian genius.
Prominent among the many works on display is the modular “Manhattan Sunset” sofa, which fully expresses Pesce’s approach to design. Functionality, color and material exploration combine in a vibrant synthesis, recalling the New York sunset that envelops the skyline.
Fabrizio Di Michele, Consul General of Italy in New York welcomes the opening of the exhibition ‘Reimagining Everyday Landscape’ at the Italian Cultural Institute (Photo: Terry W. Sanders)
Also on display is an edition of the famous UP 5&6 (known as “The Mother”) an armchair-sculpture first created in 1969, which blends sensual forms and social critique. The cozy female figure, tied by a chain to a pouf-sphere, becomes a powerful metaphor for the female condition. The work, exhibited in major international museums such as MoMA, was awarded the Compasso d’Oro alla Carriera in 2022. B&B Italia celebrated the award with a special limited re-edition in 500 pieces: the UP5 in antique gold fabric and the UP6 in bronze.
Sebastiano Tronchetti Provera on the UP5 armchair by Gaetano Pesce, produced by B&B Italia (Photo: Terry W. Sanders)
The adjacent gallery, meanwhile, displays the “Buon Compleanno” bed, a conceptual work by Gianni Pettena, provided by Tronchetti Provera. “Participating in the creation of this exhibition,” said the co-curator, “meant crossing the worlds of art and design. Coming from a different field, public relations, I was able to ascertain that art lives in the everyday and feeds on every experience.”
The bed features a modular system, where each element, in its joining with the others, contributes to the creation of a space that changes and evolves. It is in this way that Pettena’s vision is closer to conceptual art than to traditional design
Born in Bolzano, Italy, architect, artist and theorist Gianni Pettena is among the founders of Italian radical architecture. A self-described “anarchitect,” he has always transcended theoretical boundaries, exploring space as a conceptual language.
Thus, in interweaving Pesce’s material forms and Pettena’s reflections, the exhibition Reimagining the Everyday Landscape invites us to rediscover quotidian space as dynamic and in constant transformation.
