The Brazilian Marina Zumi, German Dome and Russian Alexey Luke, three of the most interesting names in the new panorama of Urban Art, have interpreted tires by narrating them through 3 works assembled in a single installation: a truncated pyramid, about five meters high, with three faces of over 20 square meters each, which will be visible from 26 to 28 February at HangarBicocca.
A work in continuity with the forms of communication that distinguish the Pirelli corporate culture and which has found the ideal space for its realization in this place. Pirelli has chosen to use this particular form of expression for the first time in its history because the road, mobility and multiculturalism, typical elements of Street Art, also belong to his culture. It is precisely on the road, and in people's need for mobility, that tires find their meaning.
Throughout its history, Pirelli has often portrayed tires by representing them not only for the aspects linked to their functionality, but by decontextualizing them, to make them capable of evoking worlds, values, aspirations and dreams capable of giving a "rubber soul" to an object that it appears “only” round and black. In reality, a product that is anything but simple to make and which encompasses technology and innovation, the result of the talent and passion of the people who make it.
To underline this aspect, and thanks to the contribution of many artists, during the twentieth century tires became a chain (for Ezio Bonini), a lion and an elephant (for Armando Testa), a sombrero (for Alessandro Mendini) and then a eye, an umbrella and a hat (for Riccardo Manzi). In more recent years, they have been represented as a shelter from the rain, they have taken the form of musical instruments and glasses to look to the future (Stefan Glerum). Today the tire continues its journey and with Street Art becomes a moon for Marina Zumi, the protagonist of a gesture of love for nDome, the element of encounter between cultures for Alexey Luka.
In 2010, the Pirelli Report was enriched with images by the photography students of the Naba in Milan; in 2011 with illustrations by illustrator Stefan Glerum and texts by philosopher Hans Magnus Enzensberger and writers Guillermo Martinez, William Least Heat-Moon and Javier Cercas; in 2012, in an edition awarded with the “Certificate of Typographic Excellence” awarded in New York by the Type Directors Club, with cartoons by Liza Donnelly, cartoonist of the New Yorker; finally, in the 2013 Report, 10 young international talents, coordinated by the writer and screenwriter Hanif Kureishi, had worked on the concept of the wheel, each "reinventing" it through their own discipline.
In the 2014 Report, the work of the street artists will find space not only through the images that will be included in the paper edition, but also through a series of videos which, in the digital edition, will tell the story of the project, its protagonists, its implementation phases 'behind the scenes' and the finished works.
“Street Art – explained Christian Omodeo, an expert in this form of expression and artistic curator of the project – is often described as a new avant-garde, as a cohesive artistic movement, expression of a unique and international 'young' culture. In reality, what makes Street Art truly revolutionary is its status as a multicultural community engaged daily on the web in a continuous exchange between different visions of the world. The street artist does not refer to a global artistic code, but adapts his language to the geographical, cultural and social context with which he is confronted from city to city. At the same time it does not have a conventional relationship with the urban space. It goes beyond the limits imposed by common feeling, exploring forgotten areas of our cities and unconsciously reactivating those non-places which, according to the French sociologist Marc Augé, contribute to making life in contemporary metropolises alienating. A dynamism, an energy and an ability to give life to things by extracting a potential invisible to most, which I find a lot in the narrative capacity of the Pirelli brand and also in its way of doing industry”.
Marco Tronchetti Provera, President and CEO of Pirelli, Antonio Calabrò, Senior Advisor Culture of Pirelli, the art critic Achille Bonito Oliva and Christian Omodeo, Street Art expert and artistic curator of the project, took part in the presentation together with the artists.
The social initiative – #TakePArt
For the occasion, Pirelli has also launched the #TakePArt social initiative, a campaign that aims to involve visitors to HangarBicocca, inviting them to take up the work of the three street artists and share it on social media using the hashtag #TakePArt. The most original shots will be published on the Pirelli social channels. After all, every single glance is a work of art.
