Marcello Smarrelli, FEC art director, was invited at Florence LABA on the occasion of “Contaminazioni / Arte Contemporanea & Industria” (Contamination / Contemporary Art & Industry), a lecture cycle curated by Marco Montemaggi entitled “Scontri ed incontri fra Arte Contemporanea ed Industria” (Clashes and meetings between Contemporary Art and Industry). These lectures focus on the historical relation between contemporary art and enterprise, which has always dealt with the different approaches and topics that these meetings will tackle. Every lecture will be divided into two sections: during the first one, the subject matter will be defined, whereas during the second one, specific cases will be analyzed through “Case Histories” and “Best Practices”.
On Wednesday, April 1st will be introduced by curator Montemaggi, and will be held starting from 10.00am. Its title is “L’Arte prodotta dall’impresa” (The industry-produced art). Some industrial brands often produce either beautiful products, in which the artistic component is remarkable, or limited series that turn into exclusive items, and are often directed to collectors.
Marcello Smarrelli will be talking about the FEC for Factories experience, one of the activities which Fondazione Ermanno Casoli created an art-industry relation with; such thing introduces contemporary art into productive systems. Artists are invited to confront the creative projects that hide behind an industrial object realization, by sharing with designers, engineers, marketing staff, and specialized workers a project path to discover new languages and unexplored working methodologies. The artist’s intervention, actually, does not aim at creating a new product, but at leading a methodological innovation that could lead to conceiving new products, new procedures or original communication campaigns, according to interactions and contexts.
Specifically, Smarrelli will describe the project he carried out for Elica in 2012 with artist Sissi, which was presented that same year at Salone del Mobile. The idea, Aspiranti Aspiratori (Hoovers to be), was based on the company need of triggering new reflections on the air purification issue. The task of processing this concept was entrusted to the artist from Bologna, due to her courage, her endless creativity, her ability to transforming the things deepest structure. Sissi worked along with Elica’s employees and they created Aspiranti Aspiratori, ten ideas that participate in an audition for becoming air purifier someday. In 2012 Aspiranti Aspiratori gained an important acknowledgement, as it was selected by ADI Design Index within the “Ricerca per l’impresa” (pre-selection for the ADI Compasso d’oro). It was also the central portion of an exhibition and an educational workshop at MAMBO in Bologna: a double certification of the initiative value.
