Transverse, metaphysical, indefinable, ever-new, ever outré, Superstudio is one of the most influential groups in Italian radical architecture, founded in 1966 by Adolfo Natalini and Cristiano Toraldo di Francia, who were later joined by Gian Piero Frassinelli, the brothers Roberto and Alessandro Magris and Alessandro Poli.
50 years on from its foundations, MAXXI is devoting a major retrospective to the group: SUPERSTUDIO 50 (from 21 April through to 4 September 2016), an exhibition conceived by Natalini, Toraldo di Francia and Frassinelli themselves, together with the curator Gabriele Mastrigli.
“This exhibition pays homage to an extraordinary group of creative talents, celebrated by international critics who have contributed to the the history of architecture, influencing the collective imagination and anticipating themes that are topical today, in such an impressive and almost prophetic way”- says Giovanna Melandri President of Fondazione MAXXI.
Known for the strength of its images and for the extreme variety of its output, the work of Superstudio has always evaded clear, identifiable labels; this exhibition brings together and presents over 200 pieces, ranging from installations to objects, from graphic works to photographs and through to publications covering the entire career and development of the group, materials largely drawn from its own archives, some never previously displayed and many of which will progressively enter MAXXI’s architecture collection.
An exhibition on Superstudio by Superstudio – which for the occasion is producing a special exhibition design project – a kind of scientific autobiography that reviews fundamental chapters in its history, from the exhibition Superarchitettura (1966), in which together with Archizoom, the group proposed for the first time a radical rethinking of architecture and design, replacing the traditional domestic images with a world of alienating objects and visions.