Macchine Inutili - Useless Machines (1934-1987)

Kaufmann Repetto is pleased to present Macchine Inutili - Useless Machines (1934-1987), a solo exhibition dedicated to Bruno Munari’s transdisciplinary and unconventional practice, with a focus on his iconic, self-propelled mobiles. Bruno Munari (1907-1998) was a visionary pioneer who traversed freely art, design, graphic, education, always in tune with the major artistic movements of the 20th century. Since the outset he was interested in new processes of production and the exploration of innovative artistic media and languages. Stimulated by the experimentation of the avant-gardes — from Futurism to the Bauhaus and Neoplasticism — he started to challenge the static character of painting and sculpture. Since the early 1930s, he tackled the concept of abstractionism in space with his Useless Machines. Designed with minimal forms and a limited use of color, these devices employ light and shadow to produce abstract shapes on the walls of the environment. The dynamic encounter between space, movement and form is further explored in Concave-Convex, a series of topological and “planar” sculptures made from a sheet of wire mesh folded inwards at pre-established points that when suitably illuminated produce evanescent images in the space in which the viewer stands. Bruno Munari was the subject of international solo exhibitions including Museo de Arte Contemporaneo Archungarry, Uruguay (2024); Fondazione Magnani Rocca, Parma (2024); Palazzo Robellini, Acqui Terme (2024); Art House, Eataly Verona (2023); Fondacion Juan March, Madrid (2022); Center for Italian Modern Art, New York (2022); MACA Contemporary Art Museum of Alicante (2022) and Museu da Casa Brasilera, San Paolo (2019). His work has been featured in group exhibitions at MAMbo, Bologna (2025); GAMC Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Rome (2024); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2021); MoMA, New York (2020); Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneve (2020); Fondazione Prada, Milan (2019); Guggenheim Museum, New York (2014) and Triennale Design Museum, Milan (2014). Munari’s work is part of the public collections of Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; MoMA – The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Brooklyn Museum, New York; Merill-Berman Collection, New York; Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York; Moseo del Novecento, Milan; Gallerie d’Italia, Milan; Triennale Design Museum, Milan; Centre Pompidou, Paris; The British Museum, London; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Galleria Nazionale d’Arte mOderna, Roma; Galleria Civica, Modena; MART – Museo di arte moerna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto; Museion, Bolzano; Museo Novecento, Firenze; Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato; MACBA – Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Buenos Aires.

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