On the occasion of the 18th Week of Architecture, the Italian Cultural Institute in Madrid presents the Spanish leg of the world tour of the exhibition “Universe Olivetti. Community as a concrete utopia”. The exhibition, which will open to the public from 7 October to 2 November 2021, is sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in collaboration with the Fondazione MAXXI and the Fondazione Olivetti.
The exhibition aims to further the knowledge of one of the fundamental figures of 20th century Italy – Adriano Olivetti – who, by combining industrial production process, social responsibility and a focus on urban development, created a unique business model that is still relevant today. Between the 1930s and the 1960s, Olivetti centred in and around his factory in Ivrea an ideal visionary landscape, in which industrial and technical modernisation went hand in hand with innovative ways of reorganising space and a particular idea of how to (re)build the relationship between the factory and the local community and its surrounding area.
The exhibition features four large thematic sections, on the Factory, Culture and Image, the City and Politics, and Society, each of which displays a large variety of graphic materials, original documents and reproductions. The Factory section uses documents, images, architectural designs, audio/video interviews and a selection of Olivetti products and objects to illustrate the idea of the factory as an engine for driving the political and economic development of the area and Olivetti’s concept of a “factory of good and not only goods”. The Culture and Image section illustrates Olivetti’s idea of culture and the role Adriano Olivetti played in Italian culture.
The exhibition provides an overview of the many publishing and cultural activities promoted by Olivetti: a selection of books published by the historic Edizioni di Comunità publishing house, posters, the architectural plans of the buildings designed to house he cultural activities and other materials. The last two sections, City and Politics and Society, deal with the relations between Olivetti’s actions in these fields and the instruments he used, in terms of architecture, engagement within the local community, and ability to combine visionary thought and concrete practice of government.
Also part of the exhibition is a photographic section, curated by Simona Antonacci, showing the pictures taken by four important Italian photographers: Luca Campigotto, Claudio Gobbi, Francesco Mattuzzi and Valentina Vannicola. On 7 October, at 18:00, the official opening of the exhibition will be preceded by a round table called “Ivrea and Olivetti: the politics behind the project”, with Pippo Ciorra and Francesca Limana, curators of the exhibition, and Rafael García, Professor of Architecture at the Polytechnic University of Madrid.
