Look at the moon, not the finger.
Presentation of the new design collection

Name: Look at the moon, not the finger.
Start: 2019-02-23 00:00:00
End: 2019-04-21 00:00:00
Location: MAC - Museum of Contemporary Art of Lissone

MAC - Museum of Contemporary Art of Lissone

Lissone, Lombardy, Italy

The show

The MAC of Lissone inaugurates the waiting and prestigious permanent collection with an exhibition that reverberates the concept. In the authoritative cradle of design, an authoritative collection.

After long waits, the MAC of Lissone has finally increased its artistic heritage with a collection dedicated exclusively to design. This choice became necessary and inevitable considering the reality of the territory, strongly linked to the wood-furniture supply chain; in the last century Lissone was, not surprisingly, synonymous with "Capital of furniture".

By virtue of an important but often underestimated story, the MAC has integrated its collections with objects that refer to the past of the small town, projecting more and more into a wide and heterogeneous panorama, of national and international scope.

Since the beginning of 2000, the museum collections have continued to document the evolution of the visual arts, but it has only been since 2007 that the MAC programming addresses the world of design, establishing a two-year award for young designers. Although the event is part of a research and development fabric belonging to the Lissone tradition, only ten years later it was possible to constitute the first nucleus of the new collection, which has considerably expanded in a short time. At present the collection consists of a hundred objects and more than three hundred technical drawings, together with a collection of materials related to visual design.

The desire to celebrate "the art of design", in the name of innovation and iconicity, finds its way to the museum halls with the exhibition Watching the Moon, not the finger. The title, which paraphrases the famous Chinese saying "when the finger indicates the moon the fool looks at the finger", alludes to the need to carefully observe the objects exposed to be able to transcend the shape and understand more thoroughly the project. With the same intent, in fact, we wanted to redesign / redesign the museum collection, which the Director of the MAC has enriched with objects that reflect the ingenuity of their authors and the expertise of some of the most renowned companies in the sector.

Alongside famous icons of design - inevitable in museum collections all over the world - projects, prototypes and limited editions are set up that are organized around thematic groups.

Masterpieces of craftsmanship, such as the Leggio d'Orsay by Aulenti, the Word Love by Tovaglia, the Segavento by Livio and Piero Castiglioni or the Papillon by Botta. Irony and originality distinguish the coat hanger Stella by the Mendini brothers, the table Aile by De Marco and Fanciullacci, the hypnotic and perpetual clock by Zambelli, the vinyl dress by Cannavacciuolo and the historic Componibile by Castelli Ferrieri revisited by Fabio Novembre. Among the curiosities, there is also a croce componibile by Iacchetti and the rosario usa e getta by JoeVelluto, Duranti sunglasses and cardboard glasses by La Roche.

Among the sittings were chosen Universale by Colombo, Monk by Afra and Tobia Scarpa, Plopp stool by Zieta, Rememberme by Juretzek, Seconda by Botta, Spaghetti by Belotti, Tuttitubi by Damiani, the Iron bench by Bergne (special edition) and the prototype of a stool by Luraschi. A section has been reserved for lighting, counting lamps that have become true icons of design, from the Eclisse by Magistretti to the Passiflora by Natalini and Toraldo di Francia, from Cuboluce by Bettonica and Melocchi to Tolomeo by De Lucchi and Fassina, up to the most recent Elica by Sironi. The kitchens of Gehry and Graves, the Rossi and Sapper coffeemakers, the Sambonet fish bowl and the Duranti "Monachine" set are the masterpieces of the kitchen corner.

Together with autograph drawings by Ambasz, Aulenti, Hejduk and Ungers, the graphic works of Baruffi / De Santi, Confalonieri, Fronzoni + MID Group, Lupi, Nizzoli, the complete series of Inventories - the editorial project of Finessi and Croatto awarded in 2014 are proposed with the Compasso d'Oro - and a selection of technical projects by Foresti-Volonterio, Pessina-Pica-Rascaroli, Salvati-Tresoldi. Of particular relevance to local history is the display of some promotional posters of the historic Lissonese Weeks and an unprecedented heliocopia of the Palazzo del Mobile in Lissone designed by architects Faglia and Galmanini.