Electa publishes the catalogue of the exhibition Ettore Sottsass. There is a Planet, held by the Triennale Design Museum at the Galleria dell'Architettura (15 September 2017-11 March 2018).
Barbara Radice’s deliberations, prompted by lengthy and eager studies of the designer’s papers, have enabled two Sottsass experts (capable of interpreting his work without overshadowing it), Christoph Radl, and Michele De Lucchi for the exhibition design, to skilfully choose and arrange writings – some delightfully reproduced with anastatic printing – and pictures (drawings, photographs, sketches, studies, settings…) in a large-format album in a way that teases out unknown information, memories, ideas and links. All while looking from a new angle at all the explosive force of one of the greatest “masters” of Italian design, an intellectual who questioned the platitudes of an established value system. It is an unusual catalogue that, as underscored by Silvana Annicchiarico, conveys the image and meaning of “ a very special exhibition. More personal than monumental. Full of secret echoes, underground ideas and hidden threads. Not very academic perhaps, but with a desire to draw out the aspects of Sottsass’ work that a more ‘scientific’ gaze would have disdained. The poetry, the darkness, the magic ”.