HOPERAPERTA

 HOPERAPERTA

THE ABSOLUTE SURFACE

Metal console with bronze finish and photograph printed on metal.

The project draws inspiration from the work of Minkowski, a Russian physicist that produced a graphic-mathematic explanation of Einstein's General relativity, or the relationship between space-time. The images reflect this model, along with Raymond Ruyer's definition of the absolute surface.

The architecture in the author's photographs comes from the Buzzian city (Tommaso Buzzi) in Umbria, another example of an absolute surface.

Courtesy: Cromonichel, Oemmebi

The title of the project (The Starry Sky) refers to a complex thought found in Kant's Critique of Practical Reason. Kant's Starry Sky symbolizes both the aesthetical sublime and ethical sublime, or moral law. The first creates a feeling that connection with the world is unintentional, while the second identifies the universality of the subject itself. Therefore, a connection exists between the surface of the sky, conscience, the knowledge of light, morality, the weave of space-time, quantum mechanics and embriogenesis. This work tries to explore these themes and reconnect them to a simple human gesture: to look up at the sky above us. (Armando Bruno)

Courtesy: Dresswall

The project explores the surface's potential for architecture, sculpture, and painting. Chromatic and reflective vertical elements meet columns of metal and oxidations to create new spaces, and bring to vision and perception in a new world. The surface thus becomes a moment of disengagment from reality and liberation from the known. A portal, architechture, a triptych, an absolute surface that vibrates with transparencies, reflections, overlapping material, that has the power to create a vision that is at once real and illusory. 

Courtesy: Materica

“We move between dimensions in the space where apparently simple surfaces, charachterized by a variety of light-reactive materials, put us in an absolute connection with nature, with craft, with space and time. A time suspended between memories, between forms and images, architecture and landscape. The absolute surface unites the worlds situated between individual dimensions (the path that crosses space and the Entre-Deux) and collective dimensions (the landscape). The absolute surface creates a sequence of place-image-boundaries that compare imagination to reality. (Alfonso Femia)

Courtesy: De Castelli, Danilo Trogu

The surface of the acrylic slab ripples, rises, and forms triangular prisms. The polymers of methyl methacrylate are invisible, mute, immobile, perfectly transparent, they barely exist.

Then light, lighting, the wave of photons crosses the chain of polymers as a straight line, without dispersing, as they hold each other tightly.

Finally, that bit of light finds an exit through the frosted diagonal cut of a triangular prism, and the room is illuminated. (Duccio Grassi)

A kimono created with the iconic fabrics of Venetian Bevilacqua Textiles, crystallized by the experimental metal accents by Materica.

A sign of connection between future and past lives, an infinite embrace. In this case the surface transforms into a portal that brings to the future, yet remains a memory of the past. A surface to wear for a never ending journey

The project is composed of two separate complementary and modular objects. Through computational design achieved with Grasshopper software, surfaces are chosen and subtracted from 4 panels of particle board by a CNC machine. Once removed from the panels, the superficial elements are stacked vertically in layers a few millimeters apart according to a predefined logic. The remaining surfaces are then reformed into a rectangular prism.

As is the case for “spandrel,” the proposed surfaces don't have a use: its an open work, and showing it is an occasion for visitors to formulate their own ideas on its possible uses. Spandrel is an architechtural term which refers to the spaces above the arches of the San Marco Cathedral in Venice.

Courtesy: Julia Marmi

Materia is part of a collection of seven photographs taken in the Italian Alps. Once selected, the images are tilted by 90 degrees to highlight a dystopic vision of the perceived landscape. “In this work I moved the horizon, as I have in other projects, making it vertical. In doing this I offer the observer, and therefore myself, a new perspective. I offer a new vision that steals your gaze and introduces it to new gravitational forces.” (Roberta Orio)

“No headphones, no interference, no touching things that might be touched by other people. The recordings investigate discrepancies between mechanical time measurement (clockwork) and psychotemporality (neural clocks). Phase shifting of repeated loops may trigger perception of rhythmanalytic cycles as hypothesized by Henri Lefebvre.” (Steve Piccolo)

The two pieces reflect the imaginary visions of the artist. Some auto-representations of an intermediate space, a surface at the interface between external and internal space.

SQ2.8 is an object that expresses its intense capacity to reveal itself by creating new prespectives and functions. Thanks to the insertion of various elements housed in the central containers, it can be used as a seat, a library, or a desk.

Courtesy: Sprech

Light scape is an artwork that questions the limits of sound and light. Both light and sound are energy that travel in waves. The piece plays this ambiguity by transforming sound into light. In particular, we record sounds from the city of Barcelona and translate those soundwaves into 3-dimensional lines that dance into space. Those lines are selected and reshaped in a blown glass installation. Argon gas will fill the interior of the glass curves and will glow an ethereal and vibrating light. (Carmelo Zappulla) 

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Maurizio Barberis is involved in art and design projects, producing solo shows. He has overseen two editions of the Milano Triennale, he has published various books of his photography and he won the prize for best photography at the 2012 Venice Biennale of Architecture. He is currently curating the contemporary art section of Interni magazine.

Luigi Ciuffreda. Born in 1981, Luigi Ciuffreda studied Architecture and Design at the École Supérieure d’Art et de Design in Orleans and at Milan Polytechnic, where he graduated in 2006 with a specialisation in museography and exhibition design for cultural heritage. He works with design at different scales: product design, retail design, interior architecture and exhibition. Among the latest works: the museographic project of the Lapidary Museum of Monte Sant’Angelo, the signage of the new NAS Arena stadium in Dubai and the exhibition of the Annunciation by Filippino Lippi at Palazzo Marino, Milan selected by the ADI design Index 2020.Alongside his professional activity, he combines personal research on illustration and graphics.

Atelier(s) Alfonso Femia, based in Milan, Genoa, and Paris, is considered one of Italy's foremost architecture studios on the international scene. In 2019, Alfonso served as the Italian ambassador for the Italian embassy in Paris' Italian Design day. Atelier(s) Alfonso Femia also won the German Design Award and was elected for the ADI Design Index.

Duccio Grassi, founder of Duccio Grassi Architects, has mainly focused on retail and has been designing Max Mara Group's international flagship stores for more than 25 years. DGA studio, based in Reggio Emilia and Milano, is also active in Asia ans West Asia, designing villas, buildings, hotels, and shopping centers. 

Tiziano Guardini. After his studies in Fashion Design, Tiziano Guardini created an innovative and deeply aware approach to fashion: ECOuture. In October 2013 he exhibited some of his creations at the Royal Albert Hall in London, in 2016 he won the Bronze Hempel Fashion Award in Beijing and he first won the “Franca Sozzani, Green Carpet Fashion Award for Best Emerging Designer”. He exhibits in museums around the world such as in the “Fashioned From Nature” exhibition of the V & A Museum or “Italy: the Beauty of Knowledge” Exhibition Dubai 2020.Si è aggiudicato il premio per il miglior progetto legato alla sostenibilità degli Archiproducts Design 2021.

Alessandro Melis is an Italian architect and the curator of the Italian National Pavilion at the 17th Venice Biennale. He is also a professor of architecture and the inaugural endowed chair of the New York Institute of Technology.

 Liyth Musallam. Hello! I’m Liyth Musallam. I was born in the United States of America. After 5 years of living in the United States, my parents decided that we should leave and go back to our home country, Palestine. I attended school, and lived in Palestine until fourteen years of age. Given the circumstances, my family and I decided that we should come back to the United States. I am currently pursuing my education at the New York Institute of Technology as an undergraduate student in the Architecture B.Arch program. During my junior year of high school, I took some architecture classes. From that point on, I grew a passion for designing and creating parametric and volumetric spaces. When I initially began my studies as an undergraduate at NYIT, I knew that architecture is a huge field with many opportunities. At a young age, I worked on my skills and improved my designing capabilities.

Roberta Orio . Roberta Orio’s work derives from the need to chronicle and investigate human identity. Her photographs attempt to understand inhabited places and spaces—qua extensions of those who inhabit them—grasping the details and traces that become portraits of their essence. Her numerous collaborations with both private and public institutions are an integral part of this journey, developing a visual language capable of narrating single realities and the relationship between community and individuality. Her works have been acquired by prestigious private and public collections, including the Mufoco Museo di Fotografia Contemporanea at Cinisello Balsamo Milano, the archives of the Lombardy region, and the archives of the municipality of Milan.

Steve Piccolo began his career in the 1970s, performing in contemporary art spaces across New York City. He is active in the fields of music, theater, performance art, and audio installations. Co-founder and curator of the Erratum listening room in Milan.

Sonia Ros. Internationally active Venetian artist. He has exhibited numerous times in Italy (in particular a personal one of him at Palazzo Ca Pesaro in Venice) and abroad, with solo exhibitions in St. Petersburg, Berlin, Helsinki, etc. He is currently on display with Le Grand Turquoise at the Galleria Bresciana.

Armando Bruno and Alberto Torres, respectively CEO and Art Director of the SMP studio in Milan, have been working together for more than ten years. Their activity ranges from interior design to product design, with a dual focus on domestic environments and public spaces linked to the community. They regularly collaborate with the most influential brands in the field of design and fashion design. The design activity is accompanied by teaching in Italian and international design schools. 

Davide Valoppi studied architecture at La Sapienza University in Rome. In 1991 he began to enthusiastically and passionately investigate various aspects of architectural production and design. The following years he would study artisanal wood, metal, and marble craftsmanship, familiarizing hinself with the materials and their production. In 2007 he founded Noarc Studio.

Carmelo Zappulla. He is an Italian architect graduated with honors and special mention from the University of Palermo. He received his Doctorate with honors (European Mention) from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. Zappulla is the founder and director of the award-winning international studio External Reference, based in Barcelona, specializing in urban design, architectural design and interior exhibition design. The studio, which has always been interested in research related to new technologies and materials, has adopted a "cradle to cradle" approach, where architecture is made up of elements that are compatible with a circular economy and that allow it to be completely reused. He designed the installation of the Spanish Pavilion at Expo Dubai 2020