Autoprogettazione Revisited

5/19/2018 Autoprogettazione Revisited

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Architectural AssociationSchool of Architecture

Exhibition guide

AUTO-PROGETTAZIONE

REVISITED

EASY-TO-ASSEMBLE FURNITURE

INSTRUCTIONS BY: PHYLLIDA BARLOW,

BROUSSARD/SEILLES, MARTINO GAMPER,RYAN GANDER, GRAHAM HUDSON,

KEUNG CAPUTO, LUCAS MAASSEN,

ENZO MARI, JOE PIPAL


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FRAMING AUTOPROGETTAZIONE:NOTES ON THE WORK AND LIFE

OF ENZO MARI

BY TIMOTHY IVISON

The task of transforming is the only coursethrough which knowledge may be obtained.

The career of Enzo Mari has spanned overfive decades of rigorous investigation intoeveryday spaces and objects. Never contentto define the limits of his field, he insteadsees his life as devoted entirely to design-ing forms. From elegantly simple objects totechnically complex exhibition designs, apassion for form and utility permeates hisentire body of work. In every medium, his

question is the same: what is essential? TheAutoprogettazione project that forms thebasis of this exhibition is on e of Maris mostinnovative works, capturing not only hisquality of form but also the generosity of hismethod what he calls the galitof design.

Maris practice as a designer beganby circuitous route. Born in Novara in 1932,he was raised primarily in Milan. His familywas of modest means but he was sent to thebest schools, as his father sincerely hopedhe would become a teacher. There was nomoney for a radio or newspapers, but therewere around the house works of classicliterature, which young Enzo would try todecipher. While Mari was still at school, hisfather became ill and, as the eldest son, itfell upon him to go out to work and take careof the family. By Maris account he worked atnearly 30 different jobs during this period,

trying his hand at any kind of artisanal workhe could find. Though it was a struggle tomake ends meet, he learned by doing, andalways got by through sheer improvisation.

When he realised that he could enrolat the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milanwithout a high school diploma, he took uppainting and stage design, applying some ofthe rudimentary skills hed learned to thestudy of fine art. Many of his friends fromMilan graduated around this time, andquickly found secure jobs, but he noticedthat they had no real interest in their work,preferring to discuss sport, and especiallycycling. In this way, Mari realised the mean-ing of alienated labour something hecontinues to rail against more than 50 years

on. His conviction was, and still is, that artand design are their own form of education;that practice and pedagogy are inseparableand that the work itself is a protest againstreality as he says, allegories of a societythat, perhaps, could exist. In the mid-1950s Maris design workevolved out of a synthesis of many of theelements found in these early experiences.His ability to improvise and investigate, tolearn by doing coupled with a keen under-standing of spatial dynamics and rigorousattention to form led to the making ofthree-dimensional constructions as wellas a series of paintings dealing with thegeometric abstraction of perspective and thepsychology of vision. By 1957, he had metthe designer Bruno Munari and expanded his

repertoire to the design of exhibitions anddisplays, as well as graphics. That same year,he made a piece for his own children, 16 Animali, which Bruno Danese would later putinto production for his gallery. Essentially achildrens toy, 16Animali was a wood blockpuzzle that seemed to encapsulate the wholeof Maris design philosophy: a work ofessential forms, arranged in a functionalmanner, operating in three dimensions andeducating the user through the processof their transformation of the objects. Thepiece was a success and he soon movedtowards product design as a viable outletfor his creative energies.

Beginning in the early 1960s withhis work for Danese, Mari truly came into hisown as a product designer, working oneverything from trays and paperweights toflower vases and lamps. This transition gave

rise to one of the hallmark tensions in Mariswork the tension between the vision of thecraftsman artist and the opportunities andlimitations of working in an industrial con-text. A self-described leftist, Mari wasideologically aligned with the radical stu-dent and workers movements of the 1960sand 70s, and was opposed to the division oflabour, and yet, as a designer, he wanted tobelieve in the democracy of mass production.He seemed intent on elevating industry toan art form grafting two opposites.

Thus, Mari invested an unprecedent-ed level of personal education and involve-ment in fabrication in an industry that hadbecome complacent about the standards ofthe assembly line. Indeed, Mari still believes

Kueng Caputos elegant, leggy light Lam-padaAStelo looks as if it might lope offacross the room to light a dark corner whileJoe Pipals Bookshelf leans languorouslyagainst a wall.

The fact that there are so manychairs on show must tell us something of thefondness for this most intimate of furniturepieces, for the human scale of a chair, theway it holds the body. The chairs in Autopro-gettazione Revisted evolve from the varyingapproaches of the designers: Ryan Ganderuses two identical Konstantin Grcic ChairOnes treated differently with an Ikea chairpad and a collapsed cardboard box. Gandersays, I like the point that things alreadyexist, you see, and true problem-solving is torule nothing out. Lucas Maassens beautiful

Script Chair continues the open-source andcollaborative design apparent in the originalAutoprogettazione thinking, and madetopical by proliferating digital technologies.Martino Gampers Sediadb is perhaps thepurest response to Maris originals: a chairso self-assured in its simplicity that itsimply is.

Phyllida Barlows timber flipchartof exuberant drawings reflects the influencethat Maris working method had on hersculptures when, as an art student in the70s, she was taught the basics of engineer-ing a built work.

Mari was ultimately disappointedwith the original response to Autoprogettazi-one, believing that only a very few, 1 or 2%understood the meaning of the experimentexpressing frustration that the cataloguewas used as a DIY manual explaining the

end product, although usable, is only impor-tant because of its educational value. Enzo Mari hoped that the idea ofAutoprogettazione would last into the future.Autoprogettazione Revisted reveals that ithas done just that. Not all of the artist/designer responses in AutoprogettazioneRevisted can be duplicated by the enthusi-ast, but they are inspirational and withouta doubt follow the Mari principle that bythinking with your own hands, by [making]your own thoughts you make them clearer.

Vanessa NorwoodHead of AA Exhibitions

AUTOPROGETTAZIONE

This project was conceived while looking attwo books sitting next to each other on mydesk in a hotel room in Paris in 2006. I hadjust bought a tired old copy of Enzo Mariscatalogue from his 1974 Autoprogettazioneand at the same time was some way throughreading IndependentPeople, a novel byHalldr Laxness. It struck me how comfort-able Laxnesss anti-hero, Bjartur of Sum-merhouses, a man whose life is devotedentirely to tending a godforsaken field ofsheep in turn-of-the-century Iceland wouldbe in Enzo Maris world.

Philip Sharratt Furniture Gallerist

AUTOPROGETTAZIONE REVISITED

Autoprogettazione Revisited celebrates theinfluence of renowned Italian designer EnzoMaris 1970s project for self-made fu rniture.Free on request, it contained a set of in-structions for 19 pieces of furniture in theform of cutting plans and axonometricdrawings. A personal manifesto, Maris textlaid out the issue he saw as central toindustrial production the quality-quantityratio, quality being defined as when theshape of a product does not seem butsimply is. For Mari, this statement was nota paradox. In a text accompanying theinstructions, he wrote that anyone, apartfrom factories and traders, can use thedesigns to make them by themselves, and

asked that photographs of the resulting piec-es be sent to his studio a process thatAutoprogettazione Revisited aims to con-tinue 35 years after the projects inception.

Autoprogettazione has inspired ageneration and Maris influence is apparentin the responses to the project. There is agenerosity and sincerity in the resultingwork that resonates with the goodwill ofMaris original proposal, from GrahamHudsons orthopaedic benevolence towardscast-off broken chairs in Design for a Revo-lution to Clemence Seilles and TravisBroussards Auto-deproduction raft thataims to celebrate the death an d thereforelife of all things and beings. Some of thepieces seem imbued with a personality.


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making, but also the spirit of participationand autonomy emerging in the cultureat large.

The spirit of Autoprogettazionecontinues in the exhibition that you havebefore you, branching off in radical direc-tions that even Mari never would havepredicted. As Maris career has continuedto develop and change, so has the Autopro-gettazione, as it gains new relevance forevery generation that is discovering itsown innate ability to create.

QUESTIONS TO ENZO MARIBY VALENTIN BONTJES VAN BEEK

29 SEPTEMBER 2009

VBVB How much is the catalogue, then or inhindsight, a didactic and educational vehiclerather than a design manual?

EM My intention was that the catalogue wasonly a fragment of ideas useful to design asa discipline.

VBVB How important is it that people areable to make their own furniture that theyunderstand the effort that goes into makinga chair, a table or a shelf and the considera-tion that goes into providing a self-buildmanual that allows them to do somethingthemselves, rather than buying it in a shop.

EM It is very important for me that throughthe manual anyone is potentially able tounderstand the process of construction.

VBVB If you were to release the Autoproget-tazione today, what would you change?

EM It was a desperate gesture for me at thetime. If I had to release it again it wouldneed to be updated so as to include all thesubsequent aberrations of the design world.VBVB What does taste mean to you? Do youthink that one can learn or teach good taste?

EM Quality can only be judged in compari-son to the masterpieces of the past. And thiscan only be done with a sincere passion forthe history of humanity.

strongly in the innate pedagogical role ofdesign and is always searching for the idealinteraction between himself, the ind ustrialprocess and the consumer of his works. Theresults are not only formally sophisticatedbut also extremely well made and affordable.

Of course, this is the ideal outcomeof Maris practice. In reality, the Autoproget-tazione project, conceived in 1971, wasessentially a reaction against the increasingpressure to produce consumer goods for apublic that did not understand the kind ofquality that Mari was able to achieve. Fromone perspective, Autoprogettazione was theinevitable fusion of the pedagogical playembodied in 16Animali, scaled up to theindustrial specifications of a completefurniture set. From another perspective,

though, one could say that Autoprogettazi-one was a work born out of frustration,coming right on the heels of the design fora divan bed that was a notorious failure,although indisputably well designed. Fromthe outset Mari was told that no one wouldbuy it it was too conceptual. This led himto reason that if people could somehowparticipate in the process of making adesigned object, they would understandwhat went into it, and engage in a sympa-thetic project of discovery. And so Autopro-gettazionewas born, as a simple set ofinstructions and materials easily reproduc-ible by anyone with access to basic carpen-try tools. Mari had enlisted his audienceas the builders of their own environments. The Autoprogettazione was openlydidactic, and for this reason it was attackedby many in the design world who thought

that Mari should be pleasing the customerrather than making them work. But if we takethe larger view, it immediately becomes clearthat the strategies of the project resonatedwith the counter-cultural mood in Europeand the United States. The desire for opendialogue and participation was embodied ineverything from Alan Kaprows Happeningsto the DIY ethos of Stewart Brands WholeEarth Catalog, to the work of architect KenIsaacs, who encouraged young people tobuild your own living structures. And it isthis deep resonance of the objects with theircultural moment that has always set EnzoMari apart as a designer. Autoprogettazioneexpresses not only his sincere desire as anartist to connect with his audience through

Broussard/SeillesAuto-deproduction, 2009


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Joe PipalBookshelf, 2009


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Kueng CaputoLampada A Stelo, 2009


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Graham HudsonDesigns For A Revolution, 2009

Lucas MaassenScript Chair, 2009


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Martino GamperSedia db, 2009


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AUTOPROGETTAZIONESTUDENT WORKSHOP

AA First Year Studio Master Valentin Bontjesvan Beek led a design workshop allowingthree AA students Korey Kromm, StefanLaxness and Alma Wang to respond to theAutoprogettazione manual, and through themodification of Maris instructions, ge neratework that experiments with the scale andmaterial of the furniture.

Brief1. Get the Enzo Mari Autoprogettazione book.

2. Choose one piece of furniture fromthe catalogue and construct the pieceas instructed.

3. Fabricate the piece again but this timealter the instruction by a ratio of either 30or 70 per cent. Any addition, subtraction,scaling, misreading, amplification or wh at-ever you choose to do should be in referenceto the original instructions, literally orconceptually. All changes should be firstmade through the instructions.

NoteRemember, any instruction is there to befollowed or disregarded. This project isabout the fabrication of something. Anythingthat is to be displayed in public has toconvey a degree of generosity. Dont be shy.

Valentin Bontjes van Beek

Phyllida BarlowUntitled: timber flipchart, marker pens, tapeStructure realised by Luke McCreadie fromdrawings by Phyllida Barlow, 2009


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Stefan Laxness, AA Intermediate studentEight Chairs, 2009


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Korey Kromm, AA Diploma studentHarvest I & II, 2009


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Autoprogettazioneby Enzo MariSpreads from 2004 facsimile editionpublished by Edizioni Corraini


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CONTRIBUTORSBIOGRAPHIES

GRAHAM HUDSONHudsons work responds tospecific projects and environ-ments using readily available,familiar materials such ascardboard, plastic bags, furniture,scaffolding and pallets. Theresulting sculptures are mock-monumental and often seeminglyalive paint spills, tape peels,bits blow over in the wind orteeter on the point of collapse .Many works are material configu-rations that invite collaboratorsto participate in their completion;these object arrangements canbe understood as performancedocumentation. Recent groupshows include Ctrl, Alt shift,

Baltic Centre for ContemporaryArt, 2009, 6 of 1, live artperformance, Camden ArtsCentre, 2008 and Notes on aReturn, Laing Gallery, Newcastle;solo shows at Monitor, Rome,2009, Jan Cunen Museum, Oss,2008 and Locust Projects, Miami,2008. Forthcoming shows includeLMCC Sculpture Park, New York,

Newspeak, Saatchi Gallery,London, Lost and Found, MiltonKeynes Gallery and a solo showat Zinger PRESENTS, Amsterdam.Graham Hudson was born in Kentin 1977 and lives and works inLondon.

PHYLLIDA BARLOWPhyllida Barlows work incorpo-rates an enormous range of mass-produced materials includingcardboard, fabric, paper, glue,paint, plastic, wood, rubber,

hardboard and adhesive tape.Her work questions the natureand role of the sculptur al objectin contemporary culture, utilisingan extensive, fluid vocabularyand immense enthusiasm forengaging with the physical stuffof the world. She sets up newrelationships, experimentingwith unexpected combinationsof materials to create objects andenvironments which encourageus to see the ever yday world withfresh eyes. Recent solo and groupshows include Peninsula, aninstallation commissioned for theBaltic Centre for ContemporaryArt, 200405 and SKIT, Bloomb-erg Space, 2005; SCAPE, a ten-sculpture installation commis-sioned for Spacex, Exeter, 2005

and Works on Paper, Leeds CityArt Gallery, new acquisitions bythe Henry Moore Foundation,Leeds, 200506. Phyllida Barlowwas born in Newcastle-upon-Tyneand graduated from the SladeSchool of Fine Art where she iscurrently Professor of Fine Artand Director of UndergraduateStudies.

LUCAS MAASSENAt what point does furnitureexist? Lucas Maassen startedexploring this idea in 2002 bylisting dollhouse chairs for saleon eBay without mentioning th eirscale or true nature. They becamereal furniture in the mind ofpotential buyers who placed bidson the items. Scale became animportant subject in his 2003

graduation work, Sitting Chairs,a tableau vivant featuring ananimistic family of chairs. Smallchanges to conventions suchas the removal of rear legs orsometimes the addition of feet,arms and hands grant the chairslife. Recent work has focused onthe OS (OpenStructures) projectinitiated by Thomas Lommee,which explores the possibility ofa modular construction modelwhere everyone designs foreveryone else on the basis of oneshared geometrical grid. Thismodular way of designing for theOS grid inspired Maassen to writehis own post-digital script forthe Script Furniture series.Lucas Maassen is a graduate ofthe Design Academy Eindhovenand has worked for Droog De sign,Unilever, Philips, the GrandPalais, Paris as well as the Dutch

Architecture Institute (NAI). Hehas exhibited worldwide in(MoMA) New York, (Grand Palais)Paris, Miami, Cologne, Milano,Turin, Eindhoven and Rotterdam.He lectures on design at th e ICT& Media Design department ofthe Fontys University of AppliedSciences.

MARTINO GAMPERMartino Gamper has an abidinginterest in the psychosocialaspects of furniture design: inparticular, he has a love ofcorners and the multiple emo-tions provoked by the singleright-angled boundary. Alongsidethis concern with underusedspaces, Gamper also nurtures aninterest in unwanted objects.

Reworking furniture that hasbeen dumped on the streets, hehas created a mismatched familyof objects. Behind each ofGampers pieces, there is a story;one that involves materials,techniques, people and places.The finished product is a tokenof all that, the thing that sits inthe brief interlude betweenmaking and using. After anapprenticeship in cabinet-making,Gamper studied sculpture andproduct design at the Universityof Applied Art and the Academyof Fine Art in Vienna. In 1996he moved to Milan, working as afreelancer for a number of designstudios. In 1998 he moved toLondon to study for a masters atthe RCA, graduating in 2000.After that he started his own

practice where he develops andproduces a wide range of objects,from limited edition to semi-industrial products and site-spe-cific installations. His workhas been exhibited in variousgalleries including the V&A,Design Museum, Sothebys,Nilufar Gallery, Oxo Tower,Kulturhuset/Stockholm, MAK/Vienna and the National GalleryOslo.

KUENG CAPUTOSarah Kueng and Lovis Caputowork with an ironic and playfulapproach to daily life. Theyespecially like to work with givencircumstances and to analyse thefacts until they can figure out asurprisingly simple outcome. Forexample, in the Copy By KuengCaputo project, the starting pointwas a given situation a small

confined space with a large groupexhibition showing a lot of ver ydifferent works by their class-mates. To create a dialoguebetween these different works,they proposed to copy the othe rworks: visitors would walk aroundto look for the original to com-pare it with the copy. Similarly,the Salone Satellite 07 furniturefair was a giant exhibition wherevisitors would walk many kilome-tres and collect thousands ofimpressions. What they neededmost, thought Kueng Caputo,was a calm place to relax for amoment. And this is what theyprovided by constructing acardboard hotel called Five StarsCardboard. The two youngdesigners are based in Zurich

and have been working togethersince 2005.

JOE PIPALJoe Pipal is a furniture-makerfrom east London. His practice isbased on making furniture tocommission but he also devotestime to developing his own work.He has been a re cipient of adevelopment award from theClerkenwell Green Association(now Craft Central), scholarshipsto craft schools in Maine andColorado in the USA, and a3-month residency at Cove Parkin Scotland. Joe has exhibited at100% Design, Origin craft fair,Midcentury Modern, Made inClerkenwell and, most recently,in a solo show Pulling Out All TheStops at Craft Central, as par t of

London Design Week 2009.He studied cabinet-making atLondon Guildhall University andprior to that Fine Art at Notting-ham Trent.

CLEMENCE SEILLES ANDTRAVIS BROUSSARDClemence and Travis met inautumn 2008 in Vienna when theywere pouring artificial wax for the

first supper of Jerszy Seymour.They subsequently took part inhis salon des amateurs and theycontinue to be involved in thisexciting group in Berlin, wherethey live and work. Travis isTexan, raised in a wooded areanear an old Spanish silver mine.He studied under a mastermetalsmith as well as at variousschools in Texas and G ermanyand finally the Academy of Artand Design in Basel. Clemenc e is

French and grew up in a valleywith the Alps for neighbours andthe woods for a playground. Sh estudied at the school of ar t anddesign in Reims before r eachingLondon and the Royal Collegeof Art.

RYAN GANDERThrough various media such asinstallation, advertisement,music, performance and litera-ture, Ganders work generatesdialogue where the familiarbecomes strange, and vice versa.Having completed a researchresidency at the Jan van EyckAkademie in Maastricht, Ganderparticipated in the artistsresidency programme of theRijksakademie in Amsterdam.

His first solo exhibition was heldin March 2002 at the Internation-al 3 Gallery in Man chester,accompanied by a monographentitled In a language you dontunderstand. In 2003, Ganderpublished the ar tists book

Appendix, produced a soloexhibition for the StedelijkMuseum Bureau Amsterdam andwon the Prix de Rome for sculp-ture (the national Dutch art prize).Earlier this year, Gander present-ed his first major solo retrospec-tive exhibition in France, The dieis cast, at Villa Arson, Nice,which followed two solo exhibi-tions running concurrently atKadist Art Foundation and gbagency. Group shows include

Desire Acquire at the Bob vanOrsouw Gallery, Zurich, The

Space of Words at MUDAMMusee dArt Moderne Grand-DucJean, Luxembourg, and Youngerthan Jesus at the New Museumin New York. In 2005 Gande r wasshortlisted for the Becks Futuresprize at the ICA in London andwon the Baloise Art StatementPrize at Art Basel. In 2006 hewon the ABN AMRO prize of theNetherlands and the followingyear received the Paul HamlynAward for Visual Arts. He wasrecently awarded the Zurich ArtPrize. Gander lives and works inLondon and is represented byTanya Bonakdar Gallery, NewYork; Annet Gelink Gallery,Amsterdam; gb Agency, Paris;Lisson Gallery, London and TaroNasu Gallery, Tokyo.

BAHBAK HASHEMI-NEZHADBefore studying product design

at the Royal College of Art,London, Bahbak initiated a rangeof photography projects whilststudying Industrial Design at theUniversity of Technology, Sydney.A long-term study trip to FukuokaJapan started a string of projectsthat confirmed an interest ininvestigating the value of imagesand photography in product/spatial design practice. He is therecipient of numerous design andphotography awards and hasexhibited his work internationally.Bahbak lives and works inLondon.

IMAGE CREDITS

BLACK & WHITE SECTIONGraham Hudson and PhyllidaBarlow instructions: photos bySue Barr

Enzo Mari portrait: Ramak Fazel

COLOUR SECTIONEnzo Mari portrait andexhibition opening:photos by Valerie Bennett

Pieces by Graham Hudson,Martino Gamper, Joe Pipal,Lucas Maassen, PhyllidaBarlow, Broussard/Seilles,Korey Kromm, Stefan Laxness,Alma Wang; and exhibitioninstallation views and

Enzo Mari lecture: photos bySue Barr

Pieces by Keung Caputo andRyan Gander: photos suppliedby the artists.

Auto-assemble-foodphotographs by BahbakHashemi-Nezhad &Clemence Seilles


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Thanks to:Phyllida Barlow, Sue Barr, ValerieBennett, Valentin Bontjes van Beek,

Travis Broussard, Martino Gamper,Ryan Gander, Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad,Graham Hudson, Sarah Keung & LovisCaputo, Korey Kromm, Stefan LaxnessLucas Maassen, Enzo Mari, CharlotteNewman, Lorenza Peragine, Joe Pipal,Stefano Rabolli Pansera, ClemenceSeilles, Alma Wang; Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad and Clemence Seilles for theprivate view event: Auto-assemble-food;

Centro Studi e Archivio dellaComunicazione, Universita degli Studidi Parma; Triennale Design Museum,Milan; The Aram Store

Exhibition designed byAA Exhibitions with Wayne Adamsand Nicholas Mortimer

Produced and edited by

AA Print StudioDesign: Wayne DalyArt Direction: Zak Kyesaaprintstudio.net

Printed by Beacon Press, England

Architectural Association36 Bedford SquareLondon WC1B 3ES

T +44 (0)20 7887 4000F +44 (0)20 7414 0782

Architectural Association (Inc.)Registered Charity No. 311083Company Limited by GuaranteeRegistered in England No. 171402Registered Office as above

AA Exhibitionsaaschool.ac.uk/exhibitions

Autoprogettazione RevisitedEasy-to-Assemble Furnitureby Enzo Mari and Invited Guests

AA Gallery

3 to 27 October 2009Monday to Friday 10am7pmSaturday 10am3pm

Autoprogettazione Revisited conceivedby Philip Sharratt and Zak Kyes andcurated by AA Exhibitions: VanessaNorwood, Lee Regan and Luke Currall.

aaschool.ac.uk

Documents

Autoprogettazione Revisited