Euroluce, The City of Lights: Lorenzo Damiani’s perceptions

One aspect that has pleasantly surprised and interested me of Euroluce is that it gives ample space to the cultural component of the design activity dedicated to light, and it does it through a exhibition spread out the new exhibit space. The City of Lights is a breath of fresh air that allows the viewer to get to know, recognize, and dream about light through the narrative of a plurality of curatorial and design voices, coordinated by the creator and scientific curator Beppe Finessi; in this way, the installation establishes a dialogue “in the making” with the visitor, who is continually captured by a series of exhibitions and “constellations” whose theme, light, is portrayed through photography, design and art. 

Sometimes I thought I was in at a Fair, others in a museum, it’s nice! It is not often that we see, for example, the original drawings behind some of Gae Aulenti’s best-known lamps, the sketches on tracing paper and drawings by Umberto Riva along with his poetic light work, and as many as five Oedipus lamps by Corrado Levi - reminding us how enriching it is to play with the poetics of paradox - finally, arriving at  Guido Guidi’s continuous attempts to unsettling our eyes through his  photographic research. These are just a few examples of the so-called “constellations” that were cleverly devised by the Formafantasma studio, together with the bookstore and arena. A series of thematic exhibitions such as, for example, Albe, luci di domani (Dawns, lights of tomorrow) curated by Matteo Pirola or the monographic exhibition dedicated to Helene Binet, designed and curated by Matteo Curzi, will allow this dialogue to continue.