Il volume presenta i primi risultati della ricerca condotta dall’unità dell’Università degli Studi di Udine, coordinata da Matteo Iannello, nell’ambito del progetto PRIN 2022 PER – Pensiero Esibito Radicale. Mostre di architettura in Italia in età contemporanea, integrandosi con la piattaforma open access Atlante delle mostre, rispetto alla quale ricopre un ruolo di “guida tematica”.
Organizzato in sei sezioni, ciascuna dedicata a un tema storico-critico, Mostrare l’architettura raccoglie trenta saggi, che affrontano sia rilevanti
casi di studio sia argomenti d’interesse generale, legati dal filo conduttore di un approccio radicale, inteso nell’accezione più ampia del termine.
Questa ricognizione analitica e visiva delle forme e dei linguaggi impiegati per esporre e narrare l’architettura, dall’Unità d’Italia a oggi, ambisce a offrire, all’interno di un quadro storiografico ancora carente, una chiave di lettura nuova e marcatamente interdisciplinare del rapporto tra progetto, spazio
espositivo e pubblico.

Starting from the eighteenth-century origins of academic exhibitions connected to architectural education within the Academies of Fine Arts, it reconstructs the evolution of exhibition practices until their progressive articulation in contexts of national importance after the unification of Italy. The analysis focuses in particular on the national exhibitions held between 1861 and 1911, examining the nature and purposes of the architectural works presented within the Fine Arts exhibitions. Indeed, a progressive evolution in the field of architectural interest can be observed over the period examined: in addition to architectural projects, the early exhibitions featured numerous reliefs or reconstructions of ancient monuments, while over time, interest also focused on restoration, urban planning, and major public works celebrating the unification of the Italian state.

In the absence of a comprehensive history of architectural exhibitions in Italy, this paper offers an episodic reconstruction of exhibition practices developed in the “marginal” regions of the Peninsula from national Unification to the postwar period. The mapping from which this research emerges highlights the role of exhibitions in shaping cultural, political, and disciplinary dynamics, from nineteenth-century displays to Fascist-era initiatives and the reconstruction period, leading to the international outlook of the late twentieth century. While architecture was initially presented through exhibition models derived from art-historical display conventions, over the course of the last century the exhibition gradually acquired autonomy as a critical, didactic, and project-oriented device. Attention is given to peripheral contexts which, although marginal to major cultural centers, provide a nuanced perspective on the transformation of architectural discourse and on the relationship between architecture, exhibition design, and the public.

Exhibitions devoted to the history of architecture and its protagonists – particularly those focusing on the so-called Renaissance – have attracted substantial cultural and economic investment, especially since the postwar period. Their development is closely intertwined with the heated debate surrounding the role of history in the contemporary age and its ambiguous relationship with the architectural project. Among the plurality of voices involved in the process, those of Ernesto Nathan Rogers, Bruno Zevi, and Manfredo Tafuri stand out with particular clarity. Both in terms of exhibition design and in the definition of cultural programs, the exhibitions in which these scholars participated introduced new modes of engagement with the public. At the same time, the promotion of conferences and publications enables the history of architecture to emancipate itself from its practice and to define its own historical-critical objectives, which were further articulated through the major historical exhibitions of the 1980s and 1990s.

The essay explores the role and significance of architectural exhibitions in Italy from the proclamation of the Kingdom in 1861 to the emergence of Postmodernism in the 1980s, showing how these events progressively contributed to shaping a national, political, and cultural identity. Through an in-depth analysis of emblematic exhibitions – from the 1861 Florentine Exhibition to the 1911 Turin Exposition, from Futurist to Fascist-era shows, through postwar reconstruction and radical experimentation in the 1960s and 1970s – the essay traces the evolution of architecture as a field marked by ideological, aesthetic, and social tensions. The narrative culminates with the 1980 Venice Architecture Biennale, a landmark moment signalling a shift towards historical reappropriation and stylistic plurality. Exhibitions thus emerge as privileged tools for understanding Italy’s cultural transformations, reflecting and shaping an increasingly plural and self-aware architectural discourse.

In the necessary yet non-neutral process of mediating between architectural design and its public presentation, post-war periodic exhibitions and the so-called super museums established from the late 1990s onwards have played a pivotal role. Defined by their wide scope, appeal to a stratified audience, institutional authority, and extended duration compared to traditional exhibitions, these contexts have functioned as genuine incubators of ideas. Closely intertwined with the social transformations of twentieth-century Italy, such experiences mark key stages in the development of exhibition practices specific to architecture: from early models derived from artistic languages, through phases of negotiation with applied and visual arts, to the legitimising role of archives and the recent musealisation of the discipline.

Contemporary architecture enjoyed a moment of particular prominence in the eyes of militant criticism and the first historians of contemporary art, coinciding with a growing interest not only in the “synthesis of the arts” but also in artists and moments in visual research that focused on the environment as a space for three-dimensional artistic expression. In this respect, the exhibitions curated by Enrico Crispolti and Germano Celant between the 1960s and the 1990s offer a paradigmatic example of two different ways of approaching architecture through exhibition design: on the one hand, as a taxonomic illustration of experiences and operational proposals for social engagement, with deep roots in the Futurist prehistory of the present; on the other, in aestheticizing and spectacular terms, treating projects and models as radically sculptural objects.

Per la XII edizione della Triennale del 1960, Carlo Scarpa viene incaricato di allestire la mostra commemorativa di Frank Lloyd Wright, scomparso l’anno precedente. Nonostante i materiali da esporre siano soprattutto riproduzioni di disegni, l’architetto riesce a costruire uno spazio di eccezionale forza espressiva grazie al magistrale impiego di velari, che definiscono astratte sequenze di volumi. Volumi che sembrano portare, a scala architettonica, composizioni certamente familiari a Scarpa, come ad esempio le “costruzioni lineari” Naum Gabo e soprattutto le “superfici sviluppabili” di Anton Pevsner. A rivelare quale sia il suo debito nei confronti dell’arte astratta nella costruzione dell’allestimento milanese sono soprattutto i disegni di studio, dove i riferimenti all’opera di Mondrian, Calder, Lucio Fontana diventano concreti. Una consuetudine per l’architetto, che trova nel fruttuoso sodalizio con le arti la chiave per sviluppare ogni suo processo creativo.

Il contributo analizza la sperimentazione didattica promossa presso la Facoltà di Architettura del Politecnico di Milano tra la fine degli anni sessanta e la metà degli anni settanta, in un contesto segnato da profonde trasformazioni culturali
e sociali. In questo quadro, le mostre “Per quale Milano” (1973), “Mostra crescente sulla città” (1974) e “La città ostile” (1976) rappresentano espressioni emblematiche di una didattica alternativa, fondata su paradigmi partecipativi, interdisciplinari e critici. Tali esposizioni, nate all’interno dei
laboratori sperimentali, visualizzavano le riflessioni teoriche e i percorsi
di ricerca maturati negli anni precedenti, traducendo l’istanza di una conoscenza attiva e socialmente impegnata. L’analisi di queste esperienze, integrata dal riferimento a iniziative come il seminario Strumenti della cultura marxista per la critica architettonica e urbanistica, permette di mettere in luce il tentativo di ridefinire il rapporto tra sapere accademico, prassi politica e
trasformazione urbana, delineando un paradigma educativo innovativo
e fortemente connesso alla realtà contemporanea.

The Erich Mendelsohn exhibition, designed by Carlo Scarpa for the XXX Biennale in 1960, was the culmination of a long process. Efforts to include architecture exhibitions alongside those dedicated to the arts had begun in 1948, spearheaded by prominent figures such as Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti and Bruno Zevi. However, the contrast with the Milan Triennale hindered any possibility of showcasing architecture for nearly a decade. Finally, the persistent advocacy of both scholars with the Biennale’s Advisory Committee in 1958-1959 succeeded in securing the inclusion of Mendelsohn and Wright in the program for the XXX edition. Only the exhibition dedicated to the master of German Expressionism was realized, yet this milestone paved the way for the inclusion of architecture, as an official Biennale’s disciplines in 1973. Scarpa designed a space that conveyed the dynamism inherent in Mendelshon’s one hundred Bozzetti immaginari (imaginary sketches); at the same time, the display devices conceived for the room allowed the sketches to be enhanced both as sequential narratives and as individual works, making them accessible to the public.

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https://doi.org/10.36253/opus-15840

In September 1977, the exhibition Il design italiano negli anni ’50 was inaugurated in Milan. Hosted within the Centrokappa spaces in Noviglio, located inside the Kartell factory, it was organized by the Centrokappa collective, founded in Milan in 1972 by Valerio Castelli. The exhibition aimed to investigate and revisit the historical moment in which the current Italian design context began to take shape.
Rather than following a historical approach, the exhibition presented the coexistence of different moments of research. A unitary project, the result of a collective work, was presented through six distinct sections specifically ordered: industrial design, graphics, objects, textiles and fashion, furniture, reconstruction of environments. The exhibition layout, curated by Andrea Branzi, Valerio Castelli, Masayuki Matsukaze, Paola Navone, and Valentino Parmiani, unfolded across multiple levels articulated around the large central atrium marked at the top by the neon “Spatial Concept” created in 1951 by Lucio Fontana for the 9th Milan Triennale and reconstructed for the occasion. The exhibition represented the first significant critical re-examination of that vibrant period. Its importance extended beyond its rich yet necessarily partial historical-artistic content. Instead, its true merit lay in having opened and fueled a debate around the theme of industrial design, and its role within contemporary society.

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https://doi.org/10.36253/opus-15842

Opened in September 1973 as part of the exhibitions organized for the 15th Milan Triennale, the section Architettura-città was curated by Aldo Rossi, Franco Raggi, Massimo Scolari, Rosaldo Bonicalzi, Gianni Braghieri, and Daniele Vitale. The accompanying photo album presents a selection of thirty photographs taken in 1973 by Valerio Castelli during the exhibition’s preparation, a true shipyard portrait capable of restoring in the strong contrast of black and white both the “decidedly cold and rigorous” set-up and the passionate unfolding of daily work, in which Aldo Rossi, Gianni Braghieri, Franco Raggi, Massimo Scolari, Agenore Fabbri, Fabio Reinhart, and Arduino Cantafora, among others, appear.

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https://doi.org/10.36253/opus-15844

The contribution describes the genesis of the project to enhance the archaeological area of ancient Himera and the construction of the
antiquarium which begun in the early 1960s to a design by Franco Minissi. The antiquarium, built along the slope of the mountain, is
characterised by a system of sloping terraces that follow the natural progression of the terrain, blending built architecture and natural
scenery without any pretence. At the same time, the system of sloping terraces defines the internal museographic itinerary built around
a continuous and unified system of ramps, a true architectural promenade, which articulate the space and organise the exhibition:
“Double-height rooms and internal overlooks vary and enliven the visit itinerary; the void itself becomes an ‘exhibition machine’; its
flow seeks to capture the attention of the visitors and draw them in. Diversified sequences, through a shrewd architectural as well as
museographic design, where the exhibits are made to interact with the environment that contains them”.

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https://doi.org/10.36253/opus-14849

“A museum of temporary exhibitions”: the architect-engineer Ignazio Gardella used this formula to describe the PAC (Contemporary Art Pavilion) in Milan, summarising the prerogatives and destiny of his first museographic project, opened in 1954, which stood out for its originality in the Italian cultural panorama of the immediate post-war period. The ambiguity of the architectural structure, precariously balanced between an uncertain museum identity, permanent by vocation, and a flexible space designed for a variable palimpsest, was coupled with the uncertainty of its content. The interweaving of the project’s documentary history and the specificities of its underlying cultural plan reveal the identity and political strategies of what, at least in its intentions, was to be the first civic museum of contemporary art in Italy.

Veicolando le più recenti conquiste dell’archeologia medievale in terra lombarda attraverso un linguaggio di pronta presa, la mostra milanese I Longobardi e la Lombardia (Palazzo Reale, 1978) toccava le corde più profonde di una memoria collettiva strettamente legata al territorio. L’ampio successo di pubblico ottenuto impone di ampliare l’angolo d’analisi da una prospettiva specialistica all’interrogazione sulle ricadute dell’evento in ambito museale e identitario tra anni Settanta e Ottanta.