Travel Sculpture

Imagination and irony, these are the words that most often recur in defining the art of Bruno Munari. Imagination because there is nothing more fundamental and genuine in his activity. Munari himself speaks of imagination as that which allows you to think something that was not there before and to be able to do so without limits. Irony because each of his ideas translates into a game, a poetic free from prejudice, that engages with art. The irony is combined with a disorienting notion of uselessness, in the presence of something that we can quite well do without but which somehow persists in seeking a role and function that is currently lacking. Among the ironic offerings of Munari’s imagination, an important place is held by the “Travel Sculptures,” which he began to create form 1958, taking various forms. So what exactly is this “travel sculpture” of Bruno Munari? We find an answer in issue 359 of Domus, an architecture and design magazine, which describes the sculptures as “light and folding: … something to put in your suitcase and take with you when you leave so that they can create for everyone, in anonymous hotel rooms, a point of reference with the world of their own culture.” These first easily transportable works were added by Munari over the years by larger less easily handled pieces. The latest of these, such as that seen at the Pinacoteca di Como, are made of metal, steel or corten—weathering steel (special oxidized steel) for outdoors. These do not bend or fold, with the hinges or folding points welded, as they are large and heavy sculptures, no longer travel works as such, but nevertheless still transportable to countless exhibitions. (R. Lietta)