Nervi in the making
MAXXI, 2019
'Alcantara Studio Visit' is a multi-year project, co – produced by Alcantara1 and MAXXI2 and curated by Domitilla Dardi. Every year a designer is invited to showcase new work based on a study of the MAXXI Museum Archival Collection. Formafantasma was granted access to MAXXI Architecture archives and to conduct research focusing specifically on the Italian engineer and architect Pier Luigi Nervi3.
The Studio researched the archive of the undisputed master of ferro – cemento (a type of low cost reinforced concrete) to gain an insight into Nervi's favourite material: Concrete. Nervi pioneered concrete after World War II with unparalleled experimentations, best described by him as a versatile and functional material, suitable for use in a wide range of applications. These characteristics also happen to be the distinctive qualities of Alcantara. "Structure – Formafantasma explain – is the keyword and the most important common element between concrete and Alcantara. With his extensive research, trials, tests, and calculations, Nervi demonstrated the impressive buildings that could persist with concrete. We approached Alcantara with a similar spirit and studied its wide-ranging and incredibly versatile applications." The outcome of the Studio research is an "archive of the archive".
For the exhibition, Formafantasma printed photographs from the archive onto sweeping sheaths of technical performance material Alcantara. Nervi used these images for presentation slides while he was a professor at Rome's Sapienza University and include construction sites, building references and architectural inspiration, from gothic buildings to mineral formations. These prints are hanged on a series of structures built up from work-site scaffolding with the idea of creating a sort of construction site. The images are further divided up into those that illustrate either the skin or framework of a building, demonstrating his enlightened approach to structure and form.
The choice to present Nervi's work images only in an unfinished state is to break up the perfection we are used to, leaving more space for interpretation. As an added element, the Studio tracked down a recording of one of Nervi's lectures that had been stashed away for years, which is piped into the gallery from four industrial – style bullhorns.
