The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) has launched its first Triennial, an event involving around 100 artists and designers from 32 different countries. SBS Italian has caught up with two of the guests, Simone Farresin and Andrea Trimarchi.
Photo: © Studio Delfino Sisto Legnani
The two Italian-born designers met while studying in Florence, and applied together to further their studies at the Design Academy Eindhoven.
In the Netherlands they founded 'Studio Formafantasma', a fruitful collaboration that has led to commissions by a variety of partners including Fendi, Max Mara - Sportmax, Hermès, Lexus, Krizia International and Flos among others.
Andrea and Simone found the Netherlands a better place to start their practice, a place where they could easily focus on their own work, but Simone and Andrea still work with Italian companies and teach design in Sicily, the region Andrea comes from.
Their practice hasn't gone unnoticed. In 2011 Paola Antonelli of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and design critic Alice Rawsthorn listed their studio among a handful of practices that would shape the future of design.
“Formafantasma means ghost form and it’s a reference to the way we work, which is much more conceptual, so the form is a result of a process, and that’s what we wanted to point up.”
The work commissioned to Studio Formafantasma by the NGV is titled 'Ore Streams', and Simone explains "it is an investigation on e-waste and electronic waste."
"It was important for us to do a body of work here that is exploring only design on a formal level, understanding what lies behind production.
"Specifically in this case, we’re looking at the impact the tools we use every day, our phones, our computers, have on the environment, and we’re looking at how we could improve recycling, conceptually challenging the way we approach design."
"Design is always seen as a decorative element within production," says Simone. "But rather it is what shapes our daily experience."
It's a definition Andrea thoroughly agrees with, adding that "everything we have is designed, from our phones to our make-up, it has a huge impact on our lives.
"If we change the way we think about the objects that surround us we could change completely the way we interact with them and consume them."
Presenting the new Triennial,Tony Ellwood, NGV director, said, "We believe that the ambition, depth and diversity of the artists and designers in the inaugural NGV Triennial will ensure our audience has a truly unforgettable cultural experience."
"This exhibition offers an unprecedented opportunity to build the NGV’s collection of contemporary art and design, and we hope the NGV Triennial will become a critical and ongoing asset for Victoria."
Ore Streams is now showing at the NGV Triennial from Friday 15 December 2017 until 15 April 2018.
On Sunday 17 December 2017 at 11.30am Simone and Andrea will be talking at the National Gallery of Victoria about their new project 'Ore Streams' commissioned by the museum and curated by Ewan Mc Eoin for the new Triennale program.
