Charles Zana creates unexpected dialogues with 17 paired works in Paris
In exhibition Utopia, Charles Zana turns Tornabuoni Art in Paris into a salon of intimate conversations between Italy’s greatest post-war artists and architects

In the decades that followed World War II, post-fascist Italy experienced a cultural revolution. The political awakening the resulted from years of dictatorship led to a creative renaissance, shifting the country’s cultural landscape forever. While arte povera artists, from the late 1960s onwards, celebrated a return to simple and unconventional materials, coincidentally, the radical design movement proposed new ways of living, empowering a generation of architects who were critical of traditional planning methods.
Paying homage to the radical legacy of the period spanning from the mid-1940s to the 1970s, the exhibition Utopia has turned Tornabuoni Art in Paris into a salon of intimate conversations between Italy’s greatest post-war artists and architects. ‘The exhibition is not about creating historical links between them,’ explains French architect Charles Zana, who curated and conceived the group show in collaboration with the Florence-born gallery. ‘It is about their common ways of understanding their time.’
Rare cabinet Barbarella by Ettore Sottsass,1966 with L’addio dell’amico che parte all’amico che rimane, by Giorgio de Chirico, 1950. Below, Concetto spaziale, Attesa, by Lucio Fontana, 1965. © Tornabuoni Art
For Utopia, Zana has paired 17 artists with 17 designers and architects, creating a mise-en-scène of imaginary scenarios in which Giorgio De Chirico befriends Ettore Sottsass and Lucio Fontana meditates with Carlo Mollino. Whether linked by a similar aesthetic sensitivity, philosophical concerns or shared vocabulary, the Italian duos dismantle the boundaries between art and design to reveal the common approaches that came to define this hopeful epoch. If architect Andrea Branzi and artist Piero Paolo Calzolari never had a chance to meet in real life, Zana claims they now have: ‘I created a meeting between them, a sharing of values.'
Other significant works include a cast resin dining table by Gaetano Pesce from 1980, a wooden chair by Carlo Mollino from 1959 and a camouflage fabric on frame by Alighiero Boetti from 1967. ‘It was very emotional when we opened the boxes,’ recounts Zana, who sourced the historical pieces from a number of collections and foundations across Europe. ‘I was very touched to discover the works, some of which I had only seen in pictures.’ The exhibition will be on show until 21 December at the gallery’s Paris outpost, and is part of a programme of exhibitions devoted to the Italian cultural landscape from the 1950s to the 1980s.
INFORMATION
Utopia is on view until 21 December. tornabuoniart.fr
ADDRESS
9 Rue Charlot,
75003 Paris
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
-
Welcome to io: OpenAI acquires Jony Ive’s secret startup to shape the form of future AI
Jony Ive’s LoveFrom has spent two years assembling io, a crack team of specialists to visualise the physical form of Artificial Intelligence. Newly acquired by Sam Altman at ChatGPT, this tech supergroup hopes to re-shape the landscape of Silicon Valley and our relationship with tech
-
Chelsea Flower Show unfurled: a year of pause, thought and promise
This week’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show – now in its 112th year – has begun to reveal its defining spirit. This year is one of tentative readjustment: a reassuring exploration of the ‘future garden’, and the ways in which landscape design might tackle climate and conservation challenges
-
Milan exhibition celebrates 20 years of Armani Privé: ‘Haute couture is fashion when it becomes art’
Hosted at the Tadao Ando-designed Armani/Silos, ‘Giorgio Armani Privé 2005-2025, Twenty Years of Haute Couture’ displays an expansive collection of the Italian designer’s showstopping haute couture creations
-
Aberto’s first international show celebrates Brazilian design in Paris at a modernist gem
Brazilian exhibition platform Aberto takes over modernist properties for art and design showcases. As it brings its concept to Europe, Wallpaper* is at Maison La Roche to explore South American icons
-
Olympics opening ceremony: a little Gaga, a lot of spectacle, and universal uplift
How Paris 2024’s Olympics opening ceremony set spirits – and much else – soaring, embracing the Seine, the streets and the skies. Craig McLean reports
-
Paris Design Week 2023: the highlights
Your essential guide to Paris Design Week 2023, from Maison & Objet to Paris Déco Off, and the best things to see in town as part of Maison & Objet City
-
Step by step: Virgil Abloh, Jaime Hayon and more rethink the ladder at Galerie Kreo, Paris
A new exhibition at Galerie Kreo, ‘Step By Step’, invites more than 20 designers to rethink the ladder’s classic design
-
Virtually experience the shapes and colours of Pierre Charpin
Take a digital 3D tour of Pierre Charpin’s show ‘Similitude(s)’ at Paris’ Galerie Kreo that explores colour and geometry
-
Re-living Pierre Paulin's 1970s Paris
Take a journey to 1970s Paris with Sotheby’s celebration of the work of French designer Pierre Paulin
-
Cultural crossings at Maison et Objet January 2020
In Paris this January, Maison et Objet (17-21 January) spanned fun rides, poetic performances and a Mediterranean brand launch
-
A new design, fashion and retail experience opens in Paris
New brand La Manufacture offers French allure and Italian craft under the creative crew of Robert Acouri, Milena Laquale and Luca Nichetto