Nanda Vigo, the inner space
Nanda Vigo, the inner space is an exhibition that introduces the work of the artist through immersive installations. Architecture, art and design are approached as total creative fields. The objective is to see, perceive and feel all the dimensions of Nanda Vigo’s artistic creation. More than a chronological presentation of her career, it is an experience that allows the audience to live the unframed dimension of her work.
“I searched for the dematerialization of the object through the creation of false perspectives, in such a way that the space around the viewer identifies with the object itself.”
Nanda Vigo, 2006
An immersive exhibition
In order to communicate the contemporary, innovative and total value of Nanda Vigo's work, several historic environments and installations, most of which have been demolished, will be reconstructed. Immersed in a sensory experience that invites introspection, visitors will be able to understand the philosophical research that is omnipresent and fundamental to the artist's work. Glass, aluminum, mirrors and neon lights, characteristic materials of her work, echo each other to appeal to our senses and give materiality to Nanda Vigo's philosophical reflection. A series of her iconic objects will thus be presented, as the Cronotopo (that means space-time), conceptualized as an area of experimental research capable of expanding the lighting effects and perceptions of form through its glass and neon. Since 1959, Nanda Vigo has surpassed the frame and has gone out of the work to touch the spectator: the image becomes an environment where to live, act and react.
Nanda Vigo at the museum of Decorative arts and Design
Presenting the work of Nanda Vigo at the madd-bordeaux, is an opportunity for visitors to immerse themselves in her avant-garde and unique work to grasp its contemporary dimension. Liberated from the limits of representation, Nanda Vigo has built her life and her work around the ideas of breaking the physical limits of space and transcendence. Her works, both experimental and immersive, are the testimony of her autonomy of action and thought as an artist convinced that art is a projection that carries within it the shape of the future society.
Nanda Vigo, hard worker and constantly renewer of herself while remaining faithful to her conceptual research, has produced a considerable work. Altough Nanda Vigo has always fought against the categorization of her identity as a woman, an artist, a designer and an architect, she declared that during her career she had to work harder than her colleagues and friends and prevail on them in order to obtain the success she deserved in the predominantly male avant-garde universe. Thanks to her strong personality and the broad research behind her innovative and aesthetic production, she has earned the respect of the greatest artists, such as Otto Piene, Gio Ponti and Lucio Fontana, with whom she has collaborated on several occasions. However, despite her remarkable career, and like many other women artists or designers, her work has not yet acquired the recognition it deserves today.
Organized in collaboration with the Archivio Nanda Vigo - founded in Milan by the artist’s will in 2013 -, this exhibition, which will be her first monograph in France, is both a tribute to her work and to her figure of pioneering as an interdisciplinary artist.
Exhibition catalogue
Published in a bilingual version in French and English by Editions Norma, the catalogue Nanda Vivo, l'espace intérieur brings together archive images, articles and interviews with design specialists and art historians Victoire Brun, Bérengère Bussioz, Justine Despretz, Marco Meneguzzo, Alessandro Padoan, Constance Rubini, Marion Vignal and Rebecca Welkens.
See the table of contents
128 pages - 29€ - On sale online and at the museum
Opening : Wednesday 6 July at 7 pm
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VERNISSAGE
Wednesday 6 July
5.30 pm: children's opening / 7 pm: official opening
The Iboat takes over the madd-bordeaux to make us dance and vibrate from 6 pm to 11 pm
Free access to the exhibition until 9 pm
YOUNG AUDIENCE & FAMILY
▶ The little ones in front: children's vernissage
Wednesday 6 July at 5.30pm - free of charge
Children between 5 and 12 years old are invited to preview the exhibition and its immersive and colourful installations in the presence of all those who made it: curators, scenographers, researchers and designers. The mediators will welcome the children and accompany them in their exploration of Nanda Vigo's universe.
Registration required artdeco.publics@mairie-bordeaux.fr
▶ Family fun tour (1h)
School holidays : every Wednesday at 3pm
Outside school holidays : every first Sunday of the month
Young and adults discover together the Nanda Vigo exhibition, accompanied by a mediator and with the help of thousand games provided: search and find, materials case, colour filters and optical games to experience the exhibition together in the manner of a colourful and sensitive adventure. Duration: 1h - reservation required.
▶ Visit for toddlers (under 5 years old)
Wednesday, October 19 from 9:30am to 10:30am
A unique experience reserved for children under 5 years old, to enjoy with the family. These workshops offer toddlers the opportunity to discover the exhibitions presented at Madd-Bordeaux through sensory visits led by a mediator. After having explored the exhibition spaces, parents and children live together sensitive experiences around the play of lights and reflections, colors and materials of Nanda Vigo.
On registration artdeco.publics@mairie-bordeaux.fr
▶ Workshop "My own space" (6-11 years old)
Wednesday October 26 at 10:30am and Thursday October 27 at 2pm
Wednesday November 2 at 10:30am and Thursday November 3 at 2pm
Wednesday December 21 at 11am and 2pm and Thursday December 29 at 11am and 2pm
In the manner of Nanda Vigo, children experiment space as a volume to be experienced and composed: first giving it a shape, then making it monochrome, giving it matter from different materials and finally, letting the light enter and observing how it transforms our perceptions on it. (6-11 years old)
On registration artdeco.publics@mairie-bordeaux.fr
▶ Workshop "Light Up Board" : making a lamp out of paper and conductive paint.
Wednesday October 26 at 2pm and Thursday October 27 at 10:30am
Wednesday November 2 at 2pm and Thursday November 3 at 10:30am
Thursday December 22 at 1 am and 2pm and Wednesday December 28 at 11am and 2pm
Combine the electric paint and the capacitive sensing of the Light Up Board to create a beautiful lamp out of paper in three simple steps: paint, fold and light !
On registration artdeco.publics@mairie-bordeaux.fr
▶ Children's group - Animation and leisure centre
Using a repertoire of shapes and colours, the children realise a poster inspired by the work of Nanda Vigo.
By reservation artdeco.publics@mairie-bordeaux.fr
SCHOOLS/ TEACHERS
▶Private tour of the exhibition for teachers
Wednesday 14 September at 2pm
Wednesday 28 September at 2pm
Would you like to book a visit for your class? Contact us at artdeco.publics@mairie-bordeaux.fr
GUIDED TOURS
Mediators welcome and accompany the discovery of the exhibition every day from 11am to 6pm
▶ Flash visit (30 minutes)
School holidays: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 1pm
Free of charge on presentation of the ticket - no reservation required
▶ Basic tour (1 hour)
Every Saturday and Sunday at 3pm
Ticket + guided tour price / Free for children
No reservation required
▶ Group visit + 10 people (1 hour)
Preferential rate - by reservation artdeco.publics@mairie-bordeaux.fr
THEMATIC VISITS
From Nanda Vigo to Andrée Putman : 2 women, 2 visions.
In cooperation with the CAPC, two visits to compare the work of Andrée Putman (1925-2013) and the one of Nanda Vigo (1936-2020), who at the same time had very different creative approaches based on a selection of furniture and lamp and their relationship to space.
After a visit of the exhibition Nanda Vigo, the inner space at the madd-bordeaux, visit of workspaces at the CAPC, usually closed to the public.
Each visit lasts 1 hour. Registration at artdeco.publics@mairie-bordeaux.fr
▶ Sunday 2 October
- 11am visit of the Nanda Vigo exhibition at madd-bordeaux
- 3pm at CAPC
▶ Sunday 4 December
- 11am visit of the Nanda Vigo exhibition at madd-bordeaux
- 3pm at CAPC
On registration artdeco.publics@mairie-bordeaux.fr
Nanda Vigo’s biography (1936-2020)
A native from Milan and trained at the EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Nanda Vigo (1936-2020) stood out in the 1960s for her transversal approach to the arts, architecture and design. A major figure in the Italian avant-garde art scene, she has always favoured the experimentation and the exploration.
From 1959, she has attended the studio of Lucio Fontana, before getting closer to the artists Piero Manzoni and Enrico Castellani, who founded the Azimuth gallery in Milan. It was during this period that she discovered the artists and places of the ZERO movement in Germany, the Netherlands and France. Between 1964 and 1966, she participated in numerous ZERO exhibitions in Europe; in 1965, she organized the legendary Zero Avantgarde exhibition in Lucio Fontana's studio in Milan.
Between 1965 and 1968, she signed the interior of Lo Scarabeo sotto la foglia, a house developed from initial plans by Gio Ponti and built by Giobatta Meneguzzo in Malo in northern Italy. In 1971, she received the New York Award for Industrial Design, for the Golden Gate lamp produced by Arredoluce and carried out one of her most emblematic projects for the Casa Museo Remo Brindisi in Lido di Spina. In 1976, she won the Saint-Gobain first prize for glass design, and in 1982 she took part in the 40th Venice Biennale.
Nanda Vigo's creations are permanently presented at the Triennale Design Museum in Milan, in the collection
of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the Museo del Novecento in Milan and at the Castello di Rivoli. In 2014,
she exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum in New York as part of the retrospective dedicated to ZERO. In 2015, within the Zero. Die Internationale Kunstbewegung der 50er und 60er Jahre exhibition program, she exhibited at the
Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin and at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
Concept by Sarah Kenderdine & Images by Olivier Gisiger
Exhibition curators
Victoire Brun, head of exhibition & design collection at the madd-bordeaux
Justine Desprez, Italian design consultant and founder of the Aster Design company,
Scenography of the exhibition
Bérengère Bussioz
Highlight
Serge Damon
Graphic design
Anette Lenz
The museum would like to thank
Château Haut-Bailly,
patron of honor
Archivio Nanda Vigo without whose support this exhibition would not have been possible
EPFL Pavilions, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, for the generosity of their collaboration and the creation of immersive technological devices that allow you to visit the interior of the house Lo Scarabeo sotto la foglia
Fondazione Lucio Fontana
ZERO Foundation
Barrisol, for the construction of all the stretch ceilings for the exhibition
Sébastien Breteau, for his generous participation
Dedar, fabric editor, for the textile covering of the exhibition seats
Fonds d’Initiatives Lafite, for their support
Little Greene and Maison Bouron, for the coloring of the exhibition
Saint-Gobain Vitrage Bâtiment, for the donation of mirrored scenographic elements and their contribution to the materials library
The lenders of the exhibition
Acerbis / MDF Italia srl
Archivio Arredoluce / Fragile Milano
Galerie Alexandre Guillemain
Stefano Galuzzi
Galleria Luisa Delle Piane
Glas Italia
Gorilla Collection
Clémence and Didier Krzentowski / Galerie Kreo
Céline Marcato
Luca Preti collection
Ivan Mietton
Nilufar
The Mayor Gallery
ZERO foundation
And more particularly Francesca and Pietro Cadeo, as well as the Archivio Nanda Vigo
We would also like to thank Alberto Mattia Martini, author of the interview of Nanda Vigo made in 2016
For their fidelity, the museum would also like to thank
The friends of the madd-bordeaux
Château Nairac
Diva Bordeaux, société de négoce
Fonds d'initiatives Lafite
Intercontinental Bordeaux - Le Grand Hôtel
Keolis Bordeaux Métropole
Les Crus Bourgeois du Médoc
Librairie Mollat - Station Ausone
