The Brazilian studio of the Campana brothers, pioneers of contemporary design, is celebrating its forty-year career in a major retrospective at the Power Station of Art (PSA) contemporary art museum in Shanghai.

Since 1984, the Campana brothers, Humberto (1953-) and Fernando (1961-2022), have transformed the conventional boundaries of creation and reinvented Brazilian design. Trained as architects and lawyers respectively, neither imagined they would become such disruptive designers. This first major retrospective in Shanghai, entitled " Impermanence ", thus honoring this bold language through the visual appeal they have instilled throughout their career. At the heart of their São Paulo workshop, their creative process, rooted in the street, has restored a certain power to less noble materials, scrap wood, and salvaged waste. Namely, " an ethic of recycling, the dignity of artisanal work and the forgotten aesthetics of the rural and indigenous world "The duo has since continued to explore new possibilities, where function and fiction, culture and nature respond to each other: from furniture making to architecture, via landscaping, fashion and scenography.

FREE THOUGHT DESIGN

The exhibition in Shanghai thus focuses on four decades of the studio's cultural production through objects, projects, drawings, and installation works. Fifty pioneering and baroque pieces illuminate the main room, designed as a structure of artificial stalactites and stalagmites. The idea, drawn from Plato's allegory of the cave, comes from Humberto Campana. Visitors can wander freely and discover the artworks that materialize behind the organically shaped columns, like a game of hide-and-seek. " explains the Brazilian designer. And he adds: Plato's allegory is something we can all relate to, regardless of age or background. I like to think we are all born curious, and this scenography is an invitation to embrace distance, to step outside our comfort zone, and to be rewarded with the courage to unleash our imagination in an adventurous search for joy. »

ICONIC DESIGN

Curators Marco Sammicheli, director of the Italian Design Museum at the Milan Triennale, and Gong Yan, director of PSA, have divided the retrospective into three thematic acts: manual, expressive, and political. The selection gives pride of place to iconic creations, such as the Favela, Vermelha, Corallo, and Anémone armchairs and chairs, as well as models featuring a variety of plush toys. Also included are the Detonado modular bookcase and the Sushi, Sereia Pirarucu, and Boa sofas. Humberto Campana's studio has also created two new installations. The first, located in the atrium, is titled Astro. This 12-meter-high suspended tulle sculpture is inspired by images generated by the Hubble Space Telescope. The second, in collaboration with landscape architect Yuan Zheng, inaugurates the Shanghai institution's "Sky Garden." Named Pyro, these bamboo and steel structures resemble bursts of stars scattered across the roof. This installation echoes the park of 12 pavilions that the Campana brothers built in their hometown of Brotas to become an educational center, thus still expressing the universal values ​​of freedom and human dignity.

“IMPERMANENCE – 40 YEARS OF ESTÚDIO CAMPANA” POWER STATION OF ART (PSA)
678 MIAOJIANG ROAD, SHANGHAI (CHINA) UNTIL SEPTEMBER 8, 2024
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