Hundreds of black beach balls fill the floor. Textured black curtains enclose the space. Out of this darkness, glimpses of color catch the eye. Mysterious in their form, they invite you in. A shiny red surface protrudes from the black spheres. A pink squiggle too. A yellow cloud-like shape glows from a plinth and a giant brown leather hand seems to wave hello. But what is this surreal space, at once enticingly inviting and slightly menacing? This is JOUETS À JOUER: Oggetti Nella Foresta [Toys for Play: Objects in the Forest], an exhibition about the radical designs and designers of the Italian furniture company Poltronova in the late 1960s and 70s.Held at the Italian Cultural Institute and organized by Centro Studi Poltronova for Design September Brussels, the exhibition brings together iconic design objects from Ettore Sottsass, Archizoom, Superstudio, D’Urbino and Lomazzi and more. The exhibition invites visitors to revel in a sense of fun whilst also considering the deeper societal unrest that these subversive pieces of work responded to.TLmag talks to Poltronova’s owner, Roberta Meloni and the exhibition’s art director Donatello D’Angelo, who is the creative director of Florence-based communication and design studio D’Apostrophe about the fantastical exhibition.Click here to read the full article
