the Avantgarde: We Were Exuberant and Still Had Hope

With this exhibition of several works by Ettore Sottsass (Innsbruck 1917 - Milan 2007), all dated 1969, Marres presents a new position in the investigation of the 20th century and the idea of avant-garde.

After The Russian Schizorevolution, which focused on an avant-garde from St. Petersburg in the period 1985-1995 and Depression, which reflected on the 20th century from an economical and psychological perspective, this exhibition presents several specific objects by an architect and designer who represents the idea of avant-garde par excellence.

Time and again, Sottsass broke with an existing value system in order to formulate alternative concepts originating in a radical approach to the social and cultural function of objects.

Central in We Were Exuberant and Still Had Hope are three variations of the Superbox, an object that came into being between 1965 and 1967. The Superbox is special in that it was never actually produced and only exists as a photographed model and as an exhibition prototype. The Superbox resembles a closet that rests on a base, completely fitted with a striped surface of laminate, a material that was introduced for the first time with the Superbox.

Marres presents three Superboxes, coming from the exhibition Miljö för a ny planet (Landscape for a new planet), which took place in the National Museum in Stockholm in 1969. We Were Exuberant and Still Had Hope is reminiscent of this exhibition, from which next to the Superboxes also the monumental ceramic altar is presented.

The exhibition title refers to Sottsass' own reflection on his work and that of his contemporaries in the Italy of the fifties and sixties. It is an expression of the productive force of the avant-garde pur sang: enthusiastic and hopeful.

Notes

From January 10, 2010 onwards, the exhibition will be accompanied by a number of notes - an essay, a series of posters and a soundscape - that reflect on the ideas inherent in the Superbox by Ettore Sottsass.

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