The architect Pierluigi Molteni virtually opens to us the doors o his studio to offer us his very interesting point of view on the relationship between architecture, art and people.
What are the main characteristics of your projects?
My studio basically follows two kinds of projects, residential and temporary installations. For the residential one, we dedicate a lot of attention to how lifestyles change in time and therefore how people living there change, too. Ours is never a pure and simple style proposal, we try our best to understand how the spaces will be used by our clients. Our job is first of all about listening and attention. Then we support our client from the concept to the finishing of the interior décor, going through the executive designs, the site management, the choice of materials and the finishing: they are all aspects that cannot develop separately.
The second area is temporary installations, which divide into two sections. On one hand we curate the installations of some important Italian and international firms in the ceramic sector, on the other hand we curate museums’ and artistic settings. The last project realized was that for the exhibition “Giulio II e Raffaello, una nuova stagione del Rinascimento a Bologna”, (Giulio II and Raffaello, a new season of the Renaissance in Bologna) at the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Bologna, which will be open until the 5th February 2023.
Both these areas, residential and temporary installations, are to me strongly connected by a common factor. My studio starts from the experience of the space, i.e. how people live and perceive the spatial qualities of a specific area, how it sounds and reacts to light. Whether they are living spaces or for an exhibition, we build the project in order for them to be welcoming, interesting and inviting to discovery. As I said, we put at the heart the building of a genuine experience of sense and sensibility.
So art has a very important role in your work.
In my job and in my life, because I am a ‘compulsive’ exhibitions visitor. If I go to visit a city, I also go for the exhibitions. Because of my job I also meet clients with very important private collections. In these cases, we operate to create the right conditions to host and enhance the works’ characteristics. A piece of art affects the space and interacts with it. One must always read and interpret its potential.
So this is also an experience?
Yes, because elements of surprise, estrangement and involvement must be cultivated. With a work of art an intimate relationship is always established, so the conditions to emphasize it must be built. In the Renaissance exhibition, for example, the visitor discovers the most important piece (i.e. the portrait of Giulio II painted by Raffaello) following a path of discovery. In the same way, in the houses, these pieces of art are so significantly charged that they deserve a focused study in order to enhance them as much as possible. A work of art is like a beloved one coming to live with us: it has a life of its own and we need to position so that it can express everything it has to say, and give.
What do you think of the Cinquerosso Arte project?
It seems to be a very sensible project. I believe art galleries should be re-designed. They only work if they encourage and facilitate the relationship between collector and artist, thus nurturing the communities of those who are passionate about art. Otherwise they are mere shops like any other, and the magic of art is lost.
Cinquerosso Arte is in some ways a community, a virtual community, which can nurture the necessities of Art. To this, one must add accessibility. Once the concept of art’s reproducibility was cleared (Walter Benjamin talked about this at the beginning of the XX century), we know that a multiple has the same characteristics as the original, in terms of fruition, pleasantness and the ability to talk to us and move us. The work of art maintains its value for its intrinsic beauty and because it is tied to an author, an artist, but the reproducibility allows the cost to be reduced. This is the strength of the project Cinquerosso Arte.
