Alessandro Mendini's "Quali Cose Siamo," or "The Things We Are",  exhibition at La Triennale Design Museum in Milan. It is baffling, thrilling, eccentric, intriguing, thoughtful, mischievous and seductive. Many designers have hailed "Quali Cose Siamo" as one of the best design exhibitions they have ever seen.

What is the Exhibition trying to convey?  The interpretations vary. One is that it is a riposte to the textbook history of modern Italian design, Another is that he is critiquing the celebrification of contemporary design culture.A third is that by reminding us of the subtlety and vitality of Italy?s recent history, the exhibition is an implicit attack on Silvio Berlusconi?s prime ministership and his impact on the country. (Which Mendini laughs off), A fourth suggestion sees it as Mr. Mendini?s love letter to design and to Italy. 

MILAN ? When Alessandro Mendini was a student he conducted an experiment by challenging himself to live with no more than 40 objects. How did it go? He failed. 

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?It was impossible," he recalled. "I?d calculated the minimum number of things I thought I needed to get by so carefully, but hadn?t realized how many pens, pencils and other drawing instruments I used in my studies." 

Despite that flop, Mr Mendini, now 79, has been obsessed by objects ever since. He has devoted much of his work, as one of Italy?s leading designers, architects, editors, critics and curators, to exploring how the things we choose to live with reflect our characters. In a dazzlingly ambitious exhibition at La Triennale Design Museum in Milan, he has assembled a collection of objects to illustrate, not his own character, but his country?s. Entitled "Quali Cose Siamo," or "The Things We Are," it presents Mr. Mendini?s choice of the things that make Italy, well, Italian. 

What are they? There are 800 objects in the show, jumbled together as if at a yard sale on very simple, very elegant plinths made by the French designer Pierre Charpin. To give you some idea of what you?ll find there, the first group includes: a replica of Michelangelo?s David; a giant Campari bottle; a car; a grand piano; a giant Ferragamo sandal (which Mr. Mendini spotted years ago in a photograph of Judy Garland); a sofa by his fellow Italian designer Gaetano Pesce; and a nude portrait of another, the late Ettore Sottsass. 

That?s for starters. Among the hundreds of other exhibits are: a suit of armor; pieces of pasta; the original models of E.T. (yes, he was designed by an Italian, too); musical instruments; a giant cactus; porcelain figurines; one jacket that belonged to (yet another) national design treasure, Achille Castiglioni, and one worn by the Italian comedian Tot?; debris from the 2009 L?Aquila earthquake; a Giorgio Morandi painting; and a replica of a white shirt made for the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta. 

It is baffling, thrilling, eccentric, intriguing, thoughtful, mischievous and seductive. So much so that I have lost count of how many designers have hailed "Quali Cose Siamo" as one of the best design exhibitions they have ever seen. I have been to the show, which opened in March and runs through Feb. 27, three times, and felt just as baffled, yet thrilled on the second and third visits as on the first. 

What does it all mean? Unsurprisingly, there have been lots of interpretations. One is that "Quali Cose Siamo" is Mr. Mendini?s riposte to the textbook history of modern Italian design, which is dominated by famous pieces by famous designers. Another is that he is critiquing the celebrification of contemporary design culture. A third is that by reminding us of the subtlety and vitality of Italy?s recent history, the exhibition is an implicit attack on Silvio Berlusconi?s prime ministership and his impact on the country. 

Mr. Mendini agrees with the first and second interpretations, but laughs off the third. "A lot of people, especially young people, have suggested that there is a political message," he said. "That?s their interpretation, not mine."

A fourth suggestion (my personal favorite) came from one of his friends, who sees "Quali Cose Siamo" as Mr. Mendini?s love letter to design and to Italy. 

Few people are better equipped to write it. After working for Marcello Nizzoli, one of the design maestri who helped to revitalize postwar Italian industry, Mr. Mendini became involved with the Radical Design movement in the late 1960s. He championed that movement as editor of Casabella in the 1970s, and did the same for post-Modernism at Domus in the 1980s. As a designer, he is best known for his dizzily ornate products for Alessi and Swatch, but his most influential pieces are the conceptual projects he developed in the mid-1970s and, later, with the post-Modernist group Studio Alchymia. His greatest influence, though, has been in celebrating his vision of design as a humane, empathetic, expressive medium in essays, books and exhibitions. He has done this since returning to Domus, where he is guest editor for a year, and again in "Quali Cose Siamo." 

Spectacularly diverse though the exhibits are, they have one thing in common. "They come from different eras and different typologies, and are cheap, expensive, big, small, or whatever, but they all have a certain dignity," explained Mr. Mendini. "And it comes from being intimately connected to people?s lives." 

This intimacy is the defining theme of the show. Mr. Mendini has based his selection on the emotional bond that individual objects have fused with him and fellow Italians, rather than on the conventional design criteria of whether they are exemplars of form, function, innovation or eco-responsibility. 

That?s why he has included personal mementos of designers he admires, such as Mr. Sottsass?s portrait, Mr. Castiglioni?s jacket and a painting by Domus?s founder, Gio Ponti, rather than acclaimed examples of their work. There are a few exceptions, but most have another story to tell, rather than coasting on their "classic" status. One is an Olivetti Lettera 22 typewriter, which was designed by Mr. Mendini?s old boss, Mr. Nizzoli, but belonged to the eminent Italian journalist Indro Montanelli. Then there is a concrete traffic cone, which was designed by Enzo Mari to keep the Milanese traffic at bay. Mr. Mendini chose one, which has been painted to resemble a watermelon. 

The emphasis on intimacy also explains the references to the sentimental side of Italian life, in objects such as the kitschy porcelain figurines and replica David, which are hugely popular, but routinely ignored by the design establishment. The nod to Tot?, in the form of his jacket, achieves the same end by acknowledging that a much-loved comedian can make an important contribution to national life, alongside great scientists and artists. 

The same could be said of the giant Ferragamo sandal, although Mr. Mendini has a different explanation. "I chose it for a very simple reason," he said. "It?s fantastic!" 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/30/arts/30iht-design30.html?_r=1
 

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