The title of the exhibition, Io sono un Drago (I am a Dragon), takes its cue from one of his most emblematic self-portraits to emphasise his singular position in the world of design. .
Triennale Milano and Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, in collaboration with Archivio Mendini, present an extensive retrospective on the work of Alessandro Mendini (1931 - 2019, Milan), the architect, designer, artist and theorist who marked the revolutions in thought and costume of the old century and the new millennium.
The title of the exhibition, Io sono un Drago (I am a Dragon), takes its cue from one of his most emblematic self-portraits to emphasise his singular position in the world of design.
Rejecting the logic of late rationalism since the 1960s, Mendini has indicated a path that can only superficially be defined as eclectic, but which should rather be understood as an admission of the complexity of Modernity: an inextricable tangle of flows and attitudes that cannot be recognised in a univocal and stable identity over time.
The exhibition, which presents works of various formats, materials and subjects, as well as drawings, paintings, decorations and performance descriptions, aims to restore Mendini's view of the world, his empathy with the meaning of everyday things, the mystery of poetry and the leaven of irony that transform the 'banal' into a surprise that reveals the enchantment of the everyday.
On the occasion of the exhibition, the Zabro table/chair created by Alessandro Mendini for Zanotta in 1984 will be part of the display at the Triennale.The exhibition will be open from April 13th to November 10th, 2024.
Picture: Alessandro Mendini, Io non sono un architetto sono un drago, 2006, Archivio Alessandro Mendini
