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It’s been 50 years since the ceramic tile manufacturing process changed forever. In 1974, ceramics manufacturer Marazzi revolutionized the industry when it patented its rapid single-firing technique. This technological leap forward soon attracted the interest of photographer Gianni Berengo Gardin (today in his nineties), then well known for both his architectural and social photography.
Once inside the Marazzi factory, Berengo Gardin was intrigued by the speed of production, and by the way colors, shapes, and designs blended together as they sped past on the conveyor belt. Unlike many of the industrial settings he’d worked in before then, at Marazzi the subject of his photography immediately became the colorful rhythms of the manufacturing process.
The exhibition Gianni Berengo Gardin. Marazzi, le linee veloci celebrates the 50th anniversary of the rapid single-firing patent. It comprises a collection of photos that Berengo Gardin took in 1977 to document the innovative and revolutionary technique. Held as part of the 24th festivalfilosofia philosophy festival, the exhibition, curated by Alessandra Mauro, will be open through December 31 in the prestigious Sale della Musica, degli Incanti e dei Sogni, part of Galleria Estensi in Sassuolo’s Palazzo Ducale, Modena.
Gianni Berengo Gardin. Marazzi, le linee veloci is an absolute first. The event showcases a selection of 42 photographs that not only demonstrate the photographer’s skill with color – quite rare in Berengo Gardin’s work – but also the speed of a process that was constantly in flux.
“I saw straight away that the challenge of this job was to capture the rapid flow of the colors and the dynamic trails of the shapes,” said Berengo Gardin. “Color film, which I hardly used, was therefore my only choice. I also worked differently from normal. I often changed distances, getting very close to the subjects to capture the details, the fragments of what I saw, and therefore create photos that were different from my others: dreamy, colorful, almost abstract. I’m grateful to Marazzi for giving me free reign to create these quite abstract photographs. In some ways, they anticipated a new approach to industrial photography, which, at the time, generally called for a more objective documentation of the product. It was a feast for the eyes and, for me, an entirely new experience.”
The images make up a photographic fresco created inside the factory – a concrete workspace represented in an abstract form in which colors and shapes flow, dance, and spin like a carousel.
In this photographic series, Berengo Gardin “abandons the distance of the social photographer – the one he always used to portray people – as he gets close up to the manufacturing process and creates a series of macro visions that form an almost abstract story made up of isolated elements, dynamic forms, strips of color that spin and dematerialize, and skilled hands as they move over the conveyor belts,” said curator Alessandra Mauro. “With this series of images created for Marazzi, the artist not only demonstrates his ability to work with the same laser-sharp focus and subtle poetry as always, but also his skill to capture in numerous fractions of a second the colors and speed of this constantly shifting process.”
“Marazzi’s products have attracted the attention of visual artists, architects, fashion stylists, and designers many times in the past,” said Mauro Vandini, CEO of Marazzi Group. “Among them have been master photographers such as Luigi Ghirri, Charles Traub, and Cuchi White, and artists such as Gio Ponti, Nino Caruso, and Paco Rabanne. Marazzi has always given them free reign to experiment and tell the story of the company from their own point of view. It’s thrilling to revisit the factory from that time through Berengo Gardin’s photography, and witness the openness to experimentation that Marazzi has continued to cultivate over time, combining the search for new products and processes with the promotion of different personal and artistic interpretations of ceramics. Accumulated over 90 years, today this is a priceless heritage and an inexhaustible source of inspiration for our company.”
Gianni Berengo Gardin. Marazzi, le linee veloci is also the title of a book published by Marazzi Group and Contrasto, with texts by Alessandra Mauro and Gianni Berengo Gardin, which brings together a selection of 42 works from the photographic series created in 1977.
More info: www.marazzitiles.co.uk
Individual photo credits are included in each gallery image
© Gianni Berengo Gardin e Marazzi Group
