Marion Baruch
"Nocturne by day"
Hours
Opening 15/04
h. 18.00 – 21.00
16/04 – 21/04
h. 12.00 – 18.00
23/04-mid June by appointment
write at
spaziolima@pconp.com
or whatsapp at
+39 3478212305
For the occasion of the Milan Design Week, pconp and Spazio Lima are proud to present Nocturne by Day, a project by artist Marion Baruch that emphasises the ambivalent nature of an artistic approach that has at various times crossed over into industrial design.
A life and career that have traversed and fully absorbed the 20th century, with all of its epoch-making events and changes. Born in 1929 in Timisoara, Romania, to Hungarian parents, the artist of Jewish descent studied in Bucharest and then in Israel, where she won a scholarship that enabled her to her studies in Rome. In the early 1960s she settled in Gallarate, where she returned to live permanently in 2011, after a long stay in Paris (1993-2010). With a gaze of awe and wonder, Marion Baruch observes the unfolding of the world and interprets it, unveiling new perspectives and unexpected possibilities.
“Art cannot be defined. How could magic be defined? If we knew what art is, it would be something else…” – M. Baruch
In dark times, when sadly we resort to the exercise of force in order to resolve problems, Marion Baruch offers an alternative solution. To immobilizing fear she responds with the speed of thought, to heaviness with lightness, to the looming specter of death with the vital energy that never ceases.
Is there such a thing as doing without doing? For years now the concepts of recycling and upcycling have permeated the worlds of design and industrial production. In the art world, for completely different reasons, the term ready-made has been used for more than a century. Marion Baruch’s practice undoubtedly incorporates these definitions, yet her work appears more aligned with the principle of Wu Wei — the fundamental element of the Daoist practice of Wei Wu Wei, or action without action, in harmony with the Dao and nature.
Marion’s work is made of scraps, it’s true, but that’s hardly the point. Marion’s work is made of life! And as long as there is life there will be work, because the two are equivalent for the artist. Thus the question needs reframing. Is there such a thing as doing without being? For anyone who visits Marion Baruch’s Nocturne by Day exhibition, the answer can only be a resounding NO!
Traiettorie (Trajectories) are not mere fabric scraps; they are what they are because Marion intended them to be so.
The iconic pouf Ron-Ron – designed by the artist, upon invitation from Dino Gavina, in 1972 for the Ultramobile collection and now featured in Gufram’s catalogue-, with its onomatopoeic name, is not just furniture, but “a companion-like object.”
The titles make the difference, Marion’s breath transforms leftovers into worlds. Her contribution is not conceptual, but poetic. Marion’s titles are fun, vital, unexpected; they are a gift! Just as it is a gift which Marion Baruch is offering with this exhibition, and which we are extending to you.
Thank you Marion!
We would like to extend a special thanks to Beatrice Cuccirelli and Peter Colombo from the Marion Baruch Archive for their invaluable contribution. We also thank Irene Crocco and Viasaterna gallery, Galerie Urs Meile, Noah Stolz, and Gufram for their support and collaboration.
Marion Baruch
Marion Baruch was born in Timisoara in 1929 to parents of Hungarian origins. As a young woman Marion Baruch registered with the Academy of Fine Arts in Bucharest, where she studied art for one year before leaving for Israel and attending the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem taking courses with the painter and Bauhaus artist Mordecai Ardon. At the age of 24 she had her first exhibition at the Micra Studio in Tel Aviv, as a result of which she was awarded a scholarship, on which she was able to travel to Italy. As of 1955 she studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome. Baruch worked at the interface with design, initially with A.G. Fronzoni (1969-70), and later with Dino Gavina, with whom she developed two radical design objects (Ron Ron and Lorenz) belonging to the Ultramobile series. In the 1990s she started signing her artworks with NAME DIFFUSION which was entered as a company in the commercial register; it carried out various projects and actions as an artists’ collective. From 1993 to 2010, Marion Baruch lived and worked in Paris, then returned to Italy, where she still lives and works.
Her recent works pursue the dialectic research between art and society. Using left-overs from the textile industry, these fabric sculptures introduce a dialogue between two immaterial forces: space and memory. In this way, the artist addresses themes related to body, production world and resources consumption.
Along with being exhibited in international institutions such as the Center for Contemporary Art, (Tel Aviv-Yafo), the National Museum of Contemporary Art (Bucharest), the Centre Pompidou (Paris) and many others; her works are also to be found in the collections of the Kunstmuseum Luzern, Mamco (Genf), Art Collection Roche (Basel), Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Triennale (Milan), Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna (Rome), Mambo (Bologna), Museion (Bozen) Gröninger Museum (Holland), Turner Contemporary (Margate), Fri-Art Kunsthalle (Fribourg, Switzerland) and MA*GA (Gallarate).
pconp studio
In the early eighties, with the founding of Studio PER, Ermanno Previdi embarked upon his own journey as an independent architect and designer. Operating until the mid-2000s, Studio PER then evolved into its current structure, now named pconp. For over thirty years, pconp has been working on many different projects for clients including commercial and industrial companies, fashion brands and real estate corporates, among others – always embracing an idea of modernity that still believes that it is possible to reshape the society in which we live, “dal cucchiaio alla città” (from the spoon to the city) as Ernesto Nathan Rogers once said.
