Tributes to Enzo Mari

A series of contributions from international artists and designers who have been invited by Hans Ulrich Obrist to pay tribute to Mari with site-specific installations and new, specially commissioned works.

Studio Enzo Mari, #001, #002, #003

Mimmo Jodice (b. Naples, 1934) has been invited to photograph Enzo Mari’s studio before the documents are transferred to CASVA – Centro Alti Studi di Arti Visive of the City of Milan.

Chair [v] (Electric Chair)

By breaking down an electric chair into three pieces and incorporating the assembly, Dozie Kanu (b. Houston, Texas, 1993) inspired by Autoprogettazione speaks to us about how, for African Americans, the death is systematically produced and repackaged as if it were self-constructed and self-induced.

EM Wall

The proportions of the walls at Triennale inspired Barbara Stauffacher Salomon (b. San Francisco, California, 1928) to create a place where it would be possible to “walk” in Mari’s initials, enabling the visitor to be seen as part of them.

untitled 2006 (Enzo Mari, Autoprogettazione 1123 xD/1123 xS/1123 xU)
untitled 2020 (Enzo Mari, Autoprogettazione 1123) (blueprints)

The relational work created by Rirkrit Tiravanija (b. Buenos Aires, 1961) allows visitors to assemble 1,000-piece puzzles on a chrome-plated steel reinterpretation of Mari’s Autoprogettazione series. The subjects are the construction drawings for the eighteen pieces of furniture in the series. The installation also includes reinterpretations of two benches and a bookcase by Mari.

Lo zoo di Enzo

In a previously unexhibited work, which she created for the exhibition before her death, Nanda Vigo (Milan, 1936-2020) uses light to reinterpret two of Mari’s most famous works, the 16 animali and the 16 pesci, thus making an “Enzo’s zoo” for both children and adults.

Daybeds

Danh Vō (Bà Ria, Vietnam, 1975) proposes a series of daybeds, that could be used by visitors to the exhibition, inspired by Mari’s Autoprogettazione and coated with Hallingdal 65, a fabric created by the Danish designer Nanna Ditzel.

A long postcard

A long postcard by Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster (b. Strasbourg, 1965) written from Paris and dated 22 January 2020. In it, the artist states how close she feels to Mari’s work and ideas.