2019年の第40回ユネスコ総会で宣言されたとおり、 世界芸術デー 芸術の発展、普及、鑑賞を世界的に促進します。芸術がもたらす変革の力を活用し、世界中の人々やコミュニティを鼓舞し、教育し、つなぐ能力を称え、現代社会に新たな視点を提供することを目指しています。さらに、歴史を通じて人生と人間の経験に対する理解を深く形作った芸術家の貢献を称えています。
この祝賀会は、4月15日という特別な日に行われます。 レオナルド・ダ・ヴィンチ 1452年に人類で最も並外れた天才の一人が誕生した記念です。芸術、科学、テクノロジーにまたがる博学者であるダ・ヴィンチの先進的な思考、直感、革新的な知識へのアプローチは、今日でも称賛され、研究され続けています。
近年のテクノロジーの進歩により、アートとテクノロジーの間のより緊密な対話が促進され、創造性と新しい言語が未踏の創造と認知の空間に融合する興味深い交差点が生まれています。アートは常にインスピレーションを引き出し、それぞれの時代の兆し、発見、発展の中にその位置を見出しています。デジタルツール、拡張現実、人工知能の出現により、芸術へのアクセスと制作の新しい形態が再定義され、想像力の境界が新たな地平線に押し上げられています。
ザの アラッツィ・コンテンポラネイ アイメッシュのコレクションは、こうした考えを土台としており、アートとイノベーションの独創的なつながりを体現しています。これらのタペストリーは、その重要性を象徴し、美術史を深く認識しており、単なるストーリーテリングや表現のための作品やプラットフォームではありません。想像力、研究、素材や技法への深い理解を必要とする創造的プロセスの成果です。芸術的ビジョンと制作プロセスの融合は、世代、所属、スタイル、詩的視点が多様であるコレクションのクリエイターにとって、やりがいのある取り組みとなっています。
Each tapestry represents the collaborations between i-Mesh and designers, artists, performers, and engineers who have conceived unique works starting from the fundamental, radical, and visionary potential of thread and i-Mesh fabrics. These materials infused with qualities of uniqueness, personalization, and adaptability, form the basis for new shapes, colors, and textures, transforming designs into three-dimensional creations that challenge conventional textile art norms. i-Mesh's Contemporary Tapestries - which reference a broad term evocative of cultures and serve as anthropological and communal data - showcase the advanced properties of fabrics, by illustrating potential connections with different contexts and the integration with environments, architecture, and contemporary forms that inhabit this time.
An open and evolving Collection where each Tapestry tells its own story and offers a unique perspective; it is a journey that spans the realms of design and architecture, delving into the history of sensibilities and poetics alongside the languages and individuals who contribute to this collective project - Cristiano Toraldo di Francia, Migliore+Servetto Architects, Alberonero, Ippolito Fleitz Group, Graphic Surgery, Giovanna Latis, Rona Meyuchas Koblenz, Marco Ferreri, Pierpaolo Pitacco, Lis Beltran & Alberto Lievore, Salida Basica.
The project's history has marked significant milestones, both in terms of locations and collaborations.
In Milan, in 2018, during Design Week, an exceptional experience unfolded, showcasing the project's and Collection's potential within the fascinating post-industrial space of the historic Cova confectionery factory in the emerging and trendy NoLO area. The conceptual proximity with Alcova - directed by Joseph Grima, curated by Space Caviar and Studio Vedèt - in a transitory space displayed i-Mesh in its various and continuous metamorphoses, with the tapestries exhibited in vast spaces overtaken by wild and questioning vegetation, within an open/closed context amidst experimental design projects, galleries, institutions, and avant-garde companies. (Arazzi Contemporanei Milan Edition | Design © various authors | Photos © Sirio Vanelli)
In Rome, in 2019, the Tapestry exhibition provided an opportunity to explore the numerous "conceptual boundaries" tied to theories and practices of soft architecture. Soft, as a category of interpretation in the reflections of Gabriele Mastrigli and Manuel Orazi, Stefano Catucci and Federica Ottone, Cristiana Colli and Alessio Battistella, Dajla Riera and Margherita Manfra, and Giuseppe Grant. A variety of viewpoints spanning art, architecture, and urban planning. These views tested against environmental vulnerabilities set the premises for meaningful projects. (Arazzi Contemporanei Rome edition | Curated by Alberto Fiorenzi | Photos © Ilaria Ieie | Video © Alessio Hong)
In Como, in 2023, during the Lake Como Design Festival, prestigious venues - San Pietro in Atrio, Villa Salazar, Sheraton Hotel – hosted the event dedicated to the bimillenary of Pliny the Elder, which occurred in Como in 23 A.D, with Nature as the central theme of the program. Alongside the Tapestries were the mock-up panels created for Expo Dubai. This project gave rise to the largest dynamic installation ever made: nearly fifty-three thousand square meters of retractable coverings integrated within the urban fabric of Expo City in Dubai to manage the climate of the promenades welcoming visitors. Sustainability and Soft Architecture were the common thread that marked the Como experience, a business strategy, a mission also explored in "Softness. i-Mesh. Designing the city." the docu-film produced by i-Mesh, directed by Cristiana Colli and Francesca Molteni, was presented at the festival. (Lake Como Design Festival 2023 | Photos courtesy of © Associazione Wonderlake Como ets | Photos © Andrea Butti | Villa Salazar and Sheraton Hotel photos © Robert Mawdsley | Photo © Maria Butti (detail of the tapestry "Forte Fibra"))
Arazzi Contemporanei is an experience beyond spatial and temporal boundaries, representing not just a project but an evolution of the narrative and design plot of i-Mesh. A journey that began with Cristiano Toraldo di Francia, who inspired the original conceptualizations and created the “Istogramma” tapestry, a manifesto of Superstudio and a paradigm for the Collection.
"One cannot discuss innovation without addressing invention. Without the former, the latter would not exist," explained Alberto Fiorenzi, COO of i-Mesh and the inspirer of "Contemporary Tapestries" project. "The steam engine is undoubtedly an invention, while steam propulsion, which supplanted wind power (the sail), clearly qualifies as an innovation. What does this distinction entail? Invention necessitates one essential element: imagination, or the capacity to envision an activity beyond human natural capabilities or a function no machine has ever performed. Today, inventions frequently manifest in science fiction movies; during the Renaissance era, they originated from the mind of Leonardo da Vinci, who, among others, was an artist."
Alberto Fiorenzi,
COO of i-Mesh, and inspirer of the project “Arazzi Contemporanei"
