Tornabuoni is pleased to present ‘Utopia’, an exhibition conceived in collaboration with the architect and designer Charles Zana. Continuing its program of collective exhibitions devoted to the Italian cultural panorama from the 1950s to the 1980s, Tornabuoni Art will be the stage of an imaginary dialogue between artists and designers who, despite their different upbringings, ambitions and conceptual investigations, remain connected by creative synergies. The artworks and design pieces presented will reveal the common aspirations and experimental spirit of this visionary generation who sought to reimagine Italy in the decades following the War.

‘Utopia’ brings to light for the first time the links between many artists and designers: Gino Sarfatti and Paolo Scheggi, Carlo Scarpa and Dadamaino, Enrico Castellani and Nanda Vigo, Michele de Lucchi and Alberto Burri, to name a few. Mario Ceroli will have a room dedicated to its art, at the frontier at the two disciplines.

Whether they are linked by a similar vision of time, a concern for the role of man in nature and space, or a shared poetic vocabulary that connects the profane and the sacred, these pairs of Italian architects and artists in this exhibition will reveal their extraordinary ability to disrupt the boundaries between art and design. Their imaginary dialogues challenge the traditional division between these two disciplines by showing that ideas about aesthetic value, functionality and decoration are enriched by the connection between these two neighboring artistic forms.