MIRO, RAPHAEL, INGENIO

AMONG CANVASES AND FRAMES

The project for the layout of the extra-ordinary exhibition of “Raphael Urbinas” led us to manipulate the display area at GAMEC (modern and contemporary art gallery in Bergamo): we made an attempt at eliminating the “domestic” image of the Gallery, its exhibition halls and its corridor, TO create a totally new and more intimate space. We have re-designed the natural light to create “a timeless space”, where Raphael’s artwork can be admired from the best possible perspective.

“Great art relies upon poor means”, this was the guiding thread of the great museum and exhibition projects of the XX century Italian School. Our project is a continuous manipulation of things: going back to the canvas preparation process, we make use of jute, chalk and pigments to prepare the Gallery exhibition area. From the raw canvas soaked with chalk and pigments, the mesh emerges as a backcloth of the works of art; the subtle golden lines of the frame shape the space and define the rhythm of the exhibition.

For this specific exhibition design we have imagined things that were not there before but that now seem to us to have always been there. Each detail reveals the skillful expertise, the τέχνη. It is a temporary project but with the same awareness of a “public” project for a collective space where a heterogeneous community can mirror itself. The time contraction between the project and its setting up was made possible by the skillful expertise of the craftsmen involved. We manipulated spaces, lights, things, materials and revised construction techniques to put the spaces of the Gallery at the disposal of the extra-ordinary artwork of “Raphael Urbinas”.

Exhibition Design : De8 architetti – Tobia Scarpa

Graphic designer : Felix Humm

Copy: Gigi Barcella