In the newly launched 'Fashion' section of Domus, issues 659 from March 1985 and 660 from April 1985, Alessandro Mendini and Pierre Restany discuss the concept of “Fashion as art” and “Art as fashion”, explaining their choice to explore the previously overlooked realm of fashion within the magazine.
Mendini refers to an “anthropological project” and a reading of fashion “just as one does with art”, emphasizing its artistic aspect and its everlasting and ever-faster change. Restany, follows: “The time has come when the project dreams of the artist and the designer will travel on the same wavelength”.
In the same April 1985 issue, Giusi Ferré's talk focuses attention on the Milanese fashion designer Cinzia Ruggeri, a frequent contributor and protagonist of the pages and covers of Domus, who “by deconstructing the garment has come to re-create forms and dimensions that refer to the imaginary”.

This reference to the imaginary is a linking factor between the work of Cinzia Ruggeri and the works of Austrian artist Birgit Jürgenssen, interlocutors in a dialogue exceptionally orchestrated by Maurizio Cattelan and Marta Papini in the exhibition “Lonely are all bridges” at the Fondazione ICA in Milan, open to the public until March 15, 2025.
In an exhibition in Vienna in 2021, Cattelan – increasingly intrigued by curatorial work, recently announced the exhibition on color photography that he will curate at the Academy of France in Rome – and Papini had already begun to explore the incredible resemblances between the two artists, who, although they worked in the same years, never met.

Both broadened their investigations into various fields, leading to imaginative realms where the interplay of art, photography, fashion, and design was notably pronounced. Consequently, their creations were often only partially grasped, as they were strictly categorized into definitions that failed to capture their full essence: Jürgenssen, primarily recognized for her photography, also delved into drawing and sculpture, drawing inspiration from the world of fashion; Ruggeri, who started out in art, then devoted herself to fashion and design, returning only in recent years to visual art.
The exhibition explores Ruggeri's and Jürgenssen's interest in the female figure and her role between the 1970s and 1980s, looking more relevant than ever. The title “Lonely are all bridges”, a quote from Austrian poet and writer Ingeborg Bachmann, suggests how the artist can become a bridge between the arts to build new connections among different worlds, forms and objects.

The installation makes this intention clear, conceived as a visual and conceptual conversation, punctuated by the incredible similarities between the two artists' works.
The reflection on the subjects of the double and the shadow retraced by Jürgenssen's drawings and photographs and Cinzia Ruggeri's sculptures, such as “Colombra” (1990), the iconic, anthropomorphically shaped sculpture-couch with closed hands to recreate the shadow of a dove, which is reflected in a 1983 drawing by Jürgenssen. So, too, Cinzia Ruggeri's mirror “Schatzi” (1995-1996), which seems to come alive in a dance of small black hands extended toward the viewer, is juxtaposed with three photographs in which Jürgenssen photographed herself reflected in a curved mirror, dressed in latex.
The focus on the accessory is another important common element, as an expressive tool for redefining women's possibilities in society: gloves, hats but especially shoes. To the fantastic shoes of Birgit Jürgenssen Domus had dedicated a page in August 1975: from chair-shoes to bed-shoes (Bed Shoes, 1974), exhibited in the first room of the Milanese Foundation in dialogue with the gloves of Cinzia Ruggeri, who also made of the shoe a protagonist of her political and social vision, as in the long row of pairs of shoes facing the wall as if in punishment, presented in the main room.

Here, the exhibition itinerary comes to fruition with the works on the large central wall: a blow-up of Jürgenssen's drawing “Aesculapian Snake” (1978) in which the hair of a naked woman descending a staircase is transformed into the tail of a snake, juxtaposed with Cinzia Ruggeri's “dress-staircase,” a dress designed with the irony and freedom of expression typical of Ruggeri, and her “Hand” that recalls the subject of shadows.

In the exhibition leaflet, Cattelan and Papini present a captivating imagined dialogue that transcribes quotes from both artists, articulating the diverse messages expressed through the showcased artworks. This reinforces the significance of Jürgenssen and Ruggeri's ideas and creations, which challenge conventional views on relationships – whether between different fields or among individuals – while exploring self-perception, personal beliefs, and the means to transcend individuality to share one's inner experiences with the world.
Opening image: Lonely Are All Bridges. Birgit Jürgenssen e Cinzia Ruggeri, Installation view, curated by Maurizio Cattelan and Marta Papini, Fondazione ICA Milano, Milano. Ph. Andrea Rossetti