The exhibition "Alchimia and Italian Radical Design" is the first major retrospective of this movement, which was so important for the 20th century. While the Bauhaus and German modernism were the milestones in the first half of the century, Alchimia and Radical Design were the major turning point in the second half of the century.
Image gallery
Bröhan-Museum
As in Germany, Italy also had to contend with the fascist legacy. While this was initially hardly discussed after the Second World War, a young generation in the 1960s no longer wanted to remain silent. Unlike in Germany, design in Italy was also affected by the 1968 movement.
In the second half of the 1960s, a whole series of designer groups were founded in rapid succession, such as Archizoom (1966–1974) and Superstudio (1966–1978).
The social role of design was fundamentally called into question, and with it the attitude of rationalism, which was promoted in Italy by fascism and corresponded to German functionalism.
While the National Socialists had fought against the German Bauhaus functionalism, the Italian fascists promoted rationalism.
From the perspective of the younger generation, a shadow hung over the internationally very successful Italian design of the 1950s and early 1960s, its positions and ideals were strained.
Therefore, a complete new start was attempted and radical design was propagated.
They wanted to become independent of industry and joined groups. Together they were stronger and could design collectively.
The iron rules of rationalism, which had apparently defined "good form" once and for all, were thrown overboard and in their place came furniture as experimental carriers of ideas, as culture-specific visions.
The Alchimia group, founded in Milan in 1976, brought the different approaches of the 1960s to perfection and great international success.
The exhibition "Alchimia and Italian Radical Design" focuses on this genuinely Italian movement.
It begins with the two groups Archizoom and Superstudio, focuses on the Alchimia group and ends with a look at Memphis and thus the further development of this movement in the 1980s and 1990s.
This rethinking process in design, which was initiated by Italian Radical Design, was formative for subsequent design development worldwide.
The New German Design of the 1980s, but also designers such as Phillippe Starck, Ron Arad and the Bouroullec brothers would not have been possible without the revolution in Italian design.
Alchimia and Radical Design freed design from the constraints of functionalism and enabled completely new forms for the world of things.
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New opening hours from February 2025
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