The Gio Ponti exhibition reopened at MAXXI in Via Guido Reni in Rome after the lockdown period: Gio Ponti Loving architecture. An exhibition that I recommend to everyone, because in my studies I loved so much the figure of this great architect, representative of an important period of Italian architecture.
Telling the figure of Giovanni Ponti, called Gio, is not easy. For me he was a great master, even if, unfortunately, I could study him only in books; I studied carefully what is considered the first rationalist project, the School of Mathematics within the university city of Rome. I remember with pleasure the days spent inside the book tower of CERN, leafing through the original magazines of the time, to look for the drawings and descriptions of this project, being able to admire with great attention every single detail of its design.
Architect, designer, art director, writer, poet, critic, integral artist at 360 degrees, Gio Ponti has been the object of a historical-critical literature and exhibition production difficult to match.
From the design of everyday objects to the invention of spatial solutions for the modern home, to the realization of complex projects set in the urban context, such as the Pirelli skyscraper in Milan or the cathedral of Taranto, Ponti’s design is characterized precisely by the casual passage from scale to scale.
He was the founder of the magazine “Domus”, which together with “Casabella” represented the centre of the cultural debate on Italian architecture and design in the second half of the 20th century.
Forty years after his death, MAXXI has dedicated this major retrospective to him, which studies and communicates his multifaceted activity, starting with the story of his architecture.
On display are archival materials, models, photographs, books, magazines and objects that make it possible to discover an excellent protagonist of Italian architectural production, whose work has left important traces on various continents.
Gio Ponti. Loving Architecture
November 27th, 2019 – September 27th, 2020