Formafantasma: Cucina Sambonet

The Triennale Design Museum’s The Influence Syndrome, the sixth edition of their annual exhibition on Italian design, has invited contemporary designers to interpret the Italian masters who rose to prominence after World War II. Formafantasma, the Italian design duo based in Eindhoven, have created a multi-modal installation dedicated to Roberto Sambonet (1924-1995). Conceived as an imaginary space called Cucina Sambonet, the installation refers both to the numerous iconic pieces of tableware designed by Sambonet and to “L’arte in tavola", the cooking column written by the designer for the financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore.

The centrepiece of the installation is an original video, in which an actor interprets Sambonet while cooking using his various designs, including the iconic fish-kettle; off-camera, a voice recounts first-hand Sambonet’s opinions about design and how it has changed over time. The monologue begins with excerpts from an interview Sambonet gave in Parma in June 1992, and slowly blends into a fictional conclusion written by Formafantasma themselves. They use his voice to predict a 21st-century design discipline free of useless nationalism, an evolution of the role of the design museum, and the need to leave Italian history behind in the face of a new generation of designers with different urgencies and needs than the great masters of his generation.

Purposefully made to blur the differences between reality and its representation, the video is accompanied by drawings, collected objects, and designed pieces that are transformed into stage props in a surreal form of scenography. The installation Cucina Sambonet sees Formafantasma paying homage to the work of a master of Italian design while simultaneously underlining the differences between interpretation and representation of history.   Through 23 February 2014 Formafantasma: La Sindrome dell’influenza Triennale Design Museum Viale Alemagna 6, Milan