Francesca Molteni & Maria Cristina Didero Curate Free Events For Istituto Italiano Di Cultura

Award-winning multidisciplinary designer and filmmaker Francesca Molteni is the link between two events taking place on January 21 and 22, 2019 presented by the Istituto Italiano di Cultura Toronto (IIC). One of Wallpaper Magazine's "favourite enterprising design women in Milan," Francesca Molteni is the scion of the Molteni furniture empire and founder of the creative lab Muse Factory of Projects. Her film Volevo essere Walt Disney (I wanted to be Walt Disney), an homage to design and architecture giant Alessandro Mendini, will screened at the Design Exchange on January 21 at 6:30 PM. Molteni's curatorial eye, together with that of regular collaborator Maria Cristina Didero, is also behind From A to Zaven, an exhibition by Venice-based design studio Zaven that opens January 22 at 6:30 PM at the IIC. Independent design curator Maria Cristina Didero is known for her expertise in Italian Radical design and has been dubbed "Milan's coolest curator" by Architectural Digest USA.

From A to Zaven is part of the Istituto's ongoing exploration of unconventional Italian design. Earlier this year the IIC presented SuperDesign, a showcase of Italian Radical Design curated by Didero. A publication by Monacelli Press accompanied the exhibition, which included the premiere screening of SuperDesign: Italian Radical Design 1965-1975, a feature length film conceived by Didero and Molteni and directed by the latter. Volevo essere Walt Disney (I wanted to be Walt Disney)
In Italian with English subtitles Monday, January 21 | 6:30 pm | Free screening at Design Exchange

Alessandro Mendini Volevo essere Walt Disney is Francesca Molteni's film homage to Alessandro Mendini, one of the most brilliant architects and designers of our times. Molteni's film beautifully captures Mendini's playful, ironic, fairy tale vision - a parallel, utopian universe not unlike that of the title's namesake, Walt Disney.

Volevo essere Walt Disney explores Mendini's iconic collaborations with Alessi, Bisazza, and Swatch, among others -creations that reinvented the language of Italian design. The film features extensive interviews with Mendini himself, along with influential figures from the world of contemporary design and architecture including Joseph Grima, Anna Gili, Germano Celant, and Giovanna Mazzocchi, to name a few.

ABOUT ALESSANDRO MENDINI
Few people have been as instrumental in promoting avant-garde Italian design as Alessandro Mendini. The architect, designer, journalist, poet, and educator is best known for his holistic postmodern approach, which freely combines elements from various cultures and time periods while mixing the highbrow with kitsch. In 1979, Mendini teamed up with fellow visionaries Ettore Sottsass and Michele De Lucchi to create Studio Alchimia; three years later, he co-founded the influential Domus Academy.

Volevo essere Walt Disney is presented by the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in collaboration with the Design Exchange and MUSE Factory of Projects.

January 22 to March 15, 2019 | Free admission | Istituto Italiano di Cultura Gallery Curated by Maria Cristina Didero and Francesca Molteni

Maria Cristina Didero and Francesca Molteni From A to Zaven is the first Canadian solo show for Italian design studio Zaven, founded by Enrica Cavarzan and Marco Zavagno. Curated by Francesca Molteni and Maria Cristina Didero, "the creative force behind many of today's hottest design happenings in Italy and abroad," (Architectural Digest), the exhibition is part of DesignTO Festival and runs January 22 to March 15 at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura. Carvazan and Zavagno will attend an opening reception in their honour on Tuesday, January 22 at 6:30pm.

Conceived specifically for the gallery space at the Istituto, this unusual installation features two-dimensional representations of projects that are exemplary of Zaven's peculiar approach to the world of design. As trained and talented product and graphic designers, Zaven's work switches easily between two and three dimensions. "The way in which a line on paper becomes a volume in space is one of the main topics of our research." (Zaven)

From A to Zaven is an intriguing anthology that swaps depictions of the duo's works for the three-dimensional objects themselves, including the P.O.P. collection (2018 Milano Design Week), the Chipo rug (CC-tapis), the Lola chair and Boccia collection (Atipico), the award-winning Rilievi collection (CEDIT), and Pipe Dream (commissioned by Santa Margherita Wine), among others. The show includes original posters designed for the Destroy Vancouver festival (Vivo Media Art Centre), as well as signposting and communications materials for the V-A-C Foundation, launched during the Venice Biennale 2015.

From A to Zaven is presented by the Istituto Italiano di Cultura a Toronto in collaboration with Studio Zaven and MUSE Factory of Projects.

ABOUT ZAVEN
Founded by Enrica Cavarzan and Marco Zavagno in 2006, Zaven is a multidisciplinary creative studio that focuses on the interaction between communications, design and art. Zaven is based in Venezia, Italy, and works internationally, offering creative direction, product, graphic and installation design, focusing on research, concept development, and collaboration among professionals from different fields. Enrica and Marco regularly teach, hold workshops and lectures in various design school both in Italy and abroad.

ABOUT Maria Cristina DIDERO
Maria Cristina Didero is an independent design curator and freelance journalist, based in Milan and working internationally. She contributes regularly to different magazines such as Domus and Vogue Italia, and her column "L'Ascensore" is featured in IconDesign. Didero has collaborated with a number of institutions both in Italy and abroad, curating exhibitions worldwide and editing related books. Among the most recent: AL(L): Projects in Aluminum by Michael Young at Grand Hornu for Stichting Kunstboek, and The Space in Between, Nendo's exhibition at Holon Design Museum, Tel Aviv. In 2015 she published The Merchant of Clouds (Skira) with Franco Audrito on Studio65 for the related show at the GAM in Turin. She also wrote the introductory text to 1968, a book by Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari. Other publications include The System of Objects at DESTE Foundation in Athens, co-curated with Andreas Angelidakis, and Keep Your Seat at GAM in Turin with Danilo Eccher (Electa). She is the author of Michele De Lucchi (Corraini) with illustrations by New York-based illustrator Steven Guarnaccia. Her recent projects include Vegan Design - Or the Art of Reduction by Erez Nevi Pana for 2018 Milan Design Week; and Designers by MC Didero presented at Prague Design Week 2018 and curated by studio OKOLO, which created visuals based on her texts. Her latest project in the U.S. is titled Fun House, a show at the National Building Museum in Washington D.C. on Snarkitecture (Phaidon).

ABOUT FRANCESCA MOLTENI
Francesca Molteni graduated from the University of Milan with a degree in Philosophy, and studied Film Production at New York University. She has been active in producing and directing documentaries, tv formats, videos, and curating design exhibitions since 2002. In 2009 Molteni set up the MUSE Factory of Projects, a Production Company based in Milan. In 2016 she documented the U.S. election in La Casa Bianca [The White House], a TV program for RAI3. Molteni is a regular contributor to Vogue and Casa Vogue Italy, GQ, Elle Decor, IlSole24Ore, as well as the author of the book Oggetti d'impresa [Objects of Enterprise], Carocci, 2016. In 2017, together with Maria Cristina Didero, she curated SuperDesign, a film about Italian Radical Design promoted by R&Company Gallery and produced by MUSE.

Molteni's accomplishments have been widely recognized with a number of prizes, including the Award for Innovation bestowed by the President of the Italian Republic (2102), and the Compasso d'Oro honorable mention (2012), the Cathay Pacific Award for women entrepreneurs (2013), and the PIDA DesignPrize for the "Dove vivono gli architetti" exhibition, curated with Davide Pizzigoni for the Milan Salone del Mobile (2014). Listing Information:

The Istituto Italiano di Cultura presents a free screening of
Volevo essere Walt Disney (I wanted to be Walt Disney) by Francesca Molteni
Monday, January 21 | 6:30 pm
Design Exchange, 234 Bay Street, Toronto
Free admission
Information: iictoronto.esteri.it | 416.921.3802

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