All of Bruno Munari on display at the Magnani-Rocca Foundation

The Magnani-Rocca Foundation in Mamiano di Traversetolo (Parma) is organizing the largest Italian exhibition on Bruno Munari (Milan, 1907 - 1998), one of the most significant figures in 20th-century design and visual communication , realized after the memorable exhibitions at the Rotonda della Besana (2007) in Milan, and the Ara Pacis (2008) in Rome. In the celebrated Villa dei Capolavori, home of the Magnani-Rocca Foundation in Mamiano di Traversetolo near Parma, just a few steps from the rooms housing capital works by Titian, Dürer, Van Dyck, Goya, Canova, Renoir, Monet, Cézanne, de Chirico, Morandi, Burri and many others, one of the greatest creative geniuses of the 20th century, the “inventor” Bruno Munari, defined by Pierre Restany as “the Leonardo and Peter Pan of Italian design,” is thus celebrated from March 16 to June 30, 2024.

In the exhibition, entitled Bruno Munari. Everything and curated by Marco Meneguzzo, a distinguished Munari scholar, are concentrated seventy years of ideas and work (Munari had begun his activity during the so-called Second Futurism, around 1927) in all fields of creativity, from art to design, from graphics to pedagogy: precisely because of the difficulty of clearly demarcating the linguistic territories he tackled over time, the review will not be divided by typology or chronology, but by attitudes and concepts, so that it will be possible to show the connections and design relationships between even apparently very different objects from one another.

Graphics, objects, works of art, “everything” responds to a design method that is becoming more precise over the years, with the great courses in American universities and with the most ambitious project, which is that of workshops to stimulate children’s creativity, which since 1977 have still been at the forefront of pre-school and early school age education. Munari’s work in recent years has been the subject of renewed attention, finally also in the international arena, after the recognition he received during his lifetime, especially in countries such as Japan, the United States, France, Switzerland and Germany, in addition of course to Italy.

“Munari,” explains Marco Meneguzzo, “is a very current figure in today’s liquid society, in which there are no limits between expressive territories. He is an example of flexibility, of man’s ability to adapt to the environment. His method consists in discovering the limit of things around us and wanting to overcome it each time.”

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog, published by Dario Cimorelli Editore, with an essay by curator Meneguzzo (together with Stefano Roffi, scientific director of the Magnani-Rocca Foundation), with unpublished critical contributions centered on individual “case studies” by Munari’s most important scholars, as well as the publication of all the approximately 250 works on display.

The exhibition can be visited Tuesday through Friday with extended hours 10 a.m.-6 p.m. (box office closes at 5 p.m.), Saturdays, Sundays and holidays with extended hours 10 a.m.-7 p.m. (box office closes at 6 p.m.). Also open April 25, May 1, June 2. Closed Mondays, open Easter Monday. Admission: € 14 also valid for Permanent Collections and Romantic Park - € 12 for groups of at least fifteen - € 5 for schools and under fourteen. The ticket also includes a free visit to the Villa’s Secret Cabinets. For less than fifteen people there is no need to make reservations; tickets are purchased upon arrival at the Foundation. Information and group reservations: tel. 0521 848327 / 848148 info@magnanirocca.it www.magnanirocca.it. Saturdays 4:30 p.m. and Sundays and holidays 11:30 a.m., 4 p.m., 5 p.m. tour of the exhibition with a specialized guide; reservations can be made at segreteria@magnanirocca.it , or show up at the museum entrance while spaces last; cost € 19 (admission and guide).

All of Bruno Munari on display at the Magnani-Rocca Foundation

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