The exhibition
The Concilio Europeo dell’Arte in collaboration with Progetto Officina faces a new challenge that is based on the concept of becoming, of transformation applied on design projects realization. The aim is to deal with changing, developing projects. The design can thus also be movable, as a living tool in the hands of the consumer that, starting from the original project, could wish to realize it in accordance with personal ambitions, preferences and needs. Each project has different requirements and then find expression in different contexts.
Our life is a work of art – whether we know it or not, whether we like it or not. To live as required by the art of life we must – like any artist, whatever his art – set difficult challenges to oppose in close-range combat; we must choose goals that are well beyond our scope, and standard of excellence irritating for their stubborn way of being well beyond what we were able to do or we would be able to do.
Zygmunt Bauman, The Art of Life, 2008
I FIND/ I CHOOSE
The solid phase of modernity – commonly known as a “society of producers” – was an era of the masses, binding rules and strong political powers. The values that ruled were safety, stability and durability. That world has been replaced by the “consumer society”, whose supreme value is the right-obligation to the “pursuit of happiness”, a fleeting happiness that does not come from the satisfaction of desires, but only from the quantity and intensity of them. Instantaneous happiness that characterizes contemporary world and gained through increasingly sophisticated means of communications, is leaving room for a new “phase” of society in which the New seems to be the discovery, the choice I FIND/ I CHOOSE. The artists of Concilio Europeo dell’Arte, in collaboration with Progetto Officina, interpret this “equation” creating, through their artistic gesture, an idea, a force, an artistic sign. Their creativity is in the service of the “public”: the artists offer the “fruit” of their genius and the user ideally chooses its transformation to make it personal in size and materials, according to use and desire. At this stage, the experience and the craftsmanship of a versatile company that loves challenges come into play, realizing and indulging requirements of demanding customers, adapting any project to their personal demands.
FRANCISCO MONTOYA Artist and e Designer
Born in Bogota, Colombia where he studied Architecture, Francisco Montoya continued his studies in Industrial Design in Milan. Designer at 360 degrees, he has experiences in various fields, from the design of the glasses to the aircraft interior, the jewel, to watches design. In the field of Industrial Design he has worked with Givenchy, Patrick Cox, Escada, Max Mara, IBB, Aghifug, Salvatore Ferragamo, Maria Grazia Cassetti Eurobrass, Log, Tonon, Binova Confalonieri, Trussardi and in the design of watches with Honda Access Europe, Mercedes Benz, Renault, Momo Design, Mondia, Roberta di Camerino.
MICHELANGELO BASTIANI Artist
Michelangelo Bastiani is a Florentine artist and art curator. He graduated from the Florence Academy of Fine of Arts in 2004, from the department of Painting and Photography under Professor Gustavo Giulietti. His activity is mainly focused on video and photography, however his work also includes spatial installations, graphically elaborated texts, and minimalist objects. Ignoring any sense of debt to traditional art, he seeks to make a clean sweep against tradition. Nachleben’s Principle on the “Survival of the Antique”, typical of Warburg’s Theory, is intentionaly not presented in the work of this artist. The main objective of Michelangelo Bastiani is to avoid the torture of boredom for the viewer by creating a direct interaction between the work and the public, with the help of the latest digital technologies.