Gio Ponti:
Loving Architecture
Architect, designer, art director, writer, poet and critic Gio Ponti traversed much of the 20th century, and profoundly influenced the taste of his time. Ponti is currently the subject of a major retrospective at MAXXI, the National Museum of XXI Century Arts, in Rome. Forty years on from his death, the exhibition examines and presents his multifaceted career. His architecture has a unique synthesis of tradition and modernity, history and progress. From the styling of everyday objects and the invention of spatial configurations for the modern home through to the realisation of complex projects inserted within an urban context, such as the Pirelli skyscraper in Milan or the cathedral in Taranto, Ponti’s design was characterised by his comfort in switching scales. On display are archive materials, original models, photographs, books, magazines and design classics closely associated with his architectural projects and organised into eight sections evoking key concepts expressed by Ponti himself. The exhibition layout is immersive to reflect Ponti’s own idea of space: fluid, dynamic and colourful. This monumental exhibition runs until April 4, 2020 at MAXXI, Rome.
