ROME - It is a signature label on the wooden door to announce the wonder that is about to open up there, on the fourth floor of a very normal petty bourgeois building, in via Oslavia 39 / b in Rome. A triumph of colors, shapes, geometries that affect walls, lamps, ceilings, furniture, tiles, hanging clothes and every imaginable utensil and detail, up to the knobs of the cupboard doors. It is FuturBalla, as that label states, or the total house-work of art of Giacomo Balla (1871-1958), the world artist who with Fortunato Depero in 1915 signed the Manifesto for the Futurist reconstruction and who in these rooms, between the dining room and the living room-study, he lived from 1929 until his death with his wife Elisa and the artist daughters Luce and Elica.
On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of its birth, Maxxi celebrates it with Casa Balla. From home to the universe and back, a project curated by Bartolomeo Pietromarchi and Domitilla Dardi, which from tomorrow brings to the rooms designed by Zaha Hadid a selection of the master's works such as the door of the famous red Studiolo in dialogue with those of eight other contemporary artists who were specially inspired by him (from the hypnotic installation in the elevator by Jim Lambie to the skirts of the whirling dervishes by Alex Cecchetti or the large table by Cassina with Patricia Urquiola and then again Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine, Carlo Benvenuto, Emiliano Maggi, Leonardo Sonnoli, Space Popular). And, above all, from June 25, he performs the little "miracle",in collaboration with the Special Superintendence of Rome for Fine Arts and Landscape and the contribution of the Bank of Italy, to be able to open to the public for the first time in thirty years that house, subject to protection only in 2004, where Balla lived and where everything is art, with every corner that tells of ideas, tests, genius (both stages until November 21; for the home, by reservation only on weekends).
"It is a gift to the city of Rome and to the community of artists, but also an important piece for the history of Italian and international art - says the president of the Maxxi Foundation, Giovanna Melandri - Entering there, finally, you really understand who he was Giacomo Balla, the art that borders on life and vice versa ". In an exhibition, adds Pietromarchi, "which enhances a clear reading, both of Balla and of his daughters, who lived there until '93 -'94, when they died. For us - he continues - it was important to restore the dimension of the family and an Italian genius who knew how to create things from nothing ". "I would like to wish everyone to enjoy that house as much as I could in childhood. I remember it full of works of art", says one of the heirs, Claudia Balla.
"I used to go to play and draw there on Sundays, just with Claudia", smiles Lavinia Biagiotti, who with the Foundation and the family collections holds over 300 works by Balla, including the beautiful sketches of clothes exhibited at the Maxxi. "One of the most beautiful legacies that my mother left me - he says - is designing the future, every day, to try something new. Osmosis between generations, as happens with the artists on display, is the secret to restarting". Among the gems returned to the public, also the 62 drawings, projects and sketches and the 23 posters of Balla's exhibitions restored by the Superintendency. "A difficult intervention - says superintendent Daniela Porro - because they are very small, or huge, often on fragile materials such as newspaper. Inside there is everything Balla,including the collection dedicated to Bal Tic Tac. The hope now is that the house can remain open permanently. "Meanwhile, the exhibition" Io, Villa Adriana ", curated by Anne Palopolie Andrea Bruciati, with the canvases and photographic proofs by Luca, will start tomorrow at the Maxxi. Vitone, which unfolds between the spaces of the museum and the residence of the Emperor Hadrian in Tivoli (until September 12) and Dante's Inferno, a photographic homage by Valentina Vannicola to the 700th anniversary of the death of the Supreme Poet, by Simona Antonacci (until 26 September).with the canvases and photographic proofs by Luca Vitone, which unfolds between the spaces of the museum and the residence of the emperor Hadrian in Tivoli (until 12 September). And Dante's Inferno, a photographic homage by Valentina Vannicola to the 700th anniversary of the death of the Supreme Poet, curated by Simona Antonacci (until September 26).with the canvases and photographic proofs by Luca Vitone, which unfolds between the spaces of the museum and the residence of the emperor Hadrian in Tivoli (until 12 September). And Dante's Inferno, a photographic homage by Valentina Vannicola to the 700th anniversary of the death of the Supreme Poet, curated by Simona Antonacci (until September 26).
