The exhibition stems from the desire to make the international public rediscover the role played by Selettiva del Mobile in the renewal of furniture design and production in Italy. Conceived in Cantù in 1955, the International Furniture Competition took place every two years between 1955 and 1975 with the aim of addressing architects and designers from all over the world, inviting them to suggest new production directions. Architects and designers of various nationalities and backgrounds joined it, from Ilmari Tapiovaara, Werner Blaser and Gianfranco Frattini to Donato d'Urbino and Carlo Volonterio, to Sven Staaf and Yasuhiko Itoh. The Triennale di Milano was invested with the organization of the event, which made available the experience necessary to deal with an episode of that complexity. The event envisaged the involvement of the most qualified local producers for the creation of the prototypes to be exhibited in the final exhibition, the Selective. The Canturino Competition had a huge resonance also thanks to the attention of the national and foreign press, which from the outset had been able to recognize its originality and intrinsic innovative strength, moreover guaranteed by the profile of the Juries, always of international resonance.
On display at the Stelline, at the center of the space is a theory of objects that interpret the Selettiva's refined functionalism and aesthetic allure – sometimes ostentatiously radical – in a sort of counter-exhibition dedicated to the “Wipe Out Design” project. Behind this acronym, presented in preview at the Salone del Mobile 2015 within the exhibition "Unknown Pleasures" with flattering reviews (Domus, Abitare, AT Casa, Interni) there is, curiously, no manufacturing company, no start-up linked to the system wood furniture, no public or private initiative for profit.
It is rather a new cultural manifesto which, through the selection of 11 furnishing prototypes – or rather everyday tools modified to the point of their uselessness and executed with the same production techniques of furniture design and large numbers, intends to indicate an alternative way to the culture of living.
A joyful, playful way with a high symbolic content, but above all distant from the constraints of product design, now conspicuously enslaved to the politics of the fashion system and co-branding. An opportunity to talk about freedom of the body in view of new occupation rituals of living space, precisely in the week in which others are talking about objects, registered trademarks, starchitects, contracts, goods.
These furnishings, designed by Leo Guerra and Cristina Quadrio Curzio, arise from the anti-ergonomic and anti-functional superfetation of existing objects mass-produced by the main companies in the sector in the two decades of activity of "La Selettiva" or from the poetic reinterpretation of the products of the time, but also from their material and symbolic components with the inevitable combinations with the coeval landscape of the visual arts.
The 11 “Wipe Out” pieces were rendered by the students of Enaip Cantù, as a didactic project work, in the post-graduate course “Production technician and Industrialization in the wood-furniture and design system”. Their execution took place in the Enaip carpentry workshop. The granting of the loan of the original plates of "La Selettiva" is instead of the City of Cantù through the Department of Culture which last autumn organized the first exhibition on the theme of the historical competition, thus starting a fascinating storytelling that will continue in a talk open to the public on Saturday 8 April 2017 at 11.00 at the Stelline, coordinated by Roberto Borghi - curator of the exhibition -, in the presence of Claudio Bizzozero - Mayor of Cantù -, Francesco Pavesi - Councilor for Culture -, Tiziano Casartelli - architect, author of " La Selettiva del Mobile” for the Canturium editions – , Ilenia Brenna – director of ENAIP.
The display of the works on display is articulated in the Refectory space thanks to 13 large double-sided textile backdrops supplied by the luxury brand BROCHIER, international leader in the production of fabrics for high fashion and interior design.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue, with introductory texts by Roberto Borghi, curator of the exhibition together with Tiziano Casartelli, in cahier de voyage format (84 pages, 100 ills., cardboard and plastic cover, elastic band closure, 14×10 cm ).
COVER IMAGE: COSTANTIN, 2017 – outdoor table – chestnut, mdf, vinyl film – A table that favors 'space in the centre' forcing diners to settle for the perimeter to familiarize themselves with lateral thinking practices and creative conflict resolution. The rough excavation practiced in the central area engraves the assembled support in the under-top, reminding us of the wood-carving sculptural poetics of Costantin Brancusi
