gaetano pesce. the italian artist, designer and architect talks about his multidisciplinary approach to project ...................................................................
......................... shop .................. competitions .............. education ................ interviews ................... snapshots ................... history .......... contemporary ---
gaetano pesce was born in la spezia, italy in 1939, he studied architecture at the university of venice and started working in the sixties. he was influenced by the social movements of this period. the work and the lessons of the architect carlo scarpa and the writer bruno zevi have also been important to him. gaetano pesce has lived in milan, marseille and paris and he has been living and working in new york since 1980. his work is characterized by an interdisciplinary approach to architecture and design, in fact gaetano pesce is internationally known for his artwork too. gaetano pesce has taught at numerous universities, among them the cooper union in new york and the university of architecture in strasburg. his works are in the most important museum collections all over the world: the moma, the metropolitan, the museum of modern art in san francisco, the v&a museum in london. a retrospective on his work spanning the last 30 years was shown in 1996 at the centre pompidou in paris and in 1997 in an exhibition entitled " is the future now ? gaetano pesce : material explorations" was shown at the gallery material connextion in new york. --- the design work of gaetano pesce is part of following collections : http://www.bebitalia.it http://www.cassina.it http://www.depadova.it http://www.vitra.com ---	gaetano pesce © designboom
we met gaetano pesce in milan on 16.04.2000 --- what is the best moment of the day? I have no idea, it depends on the day what kind of music do you listen to at the moment? any kind of music, my mother was a pianist, I've grown up with classic music but I like innovative, progressive music very much, usually popular music, I don’t believe in what they call classic - modern. vivaldi was as important for his time as the beatles or the rolling stones were during my youth, or the police... these musicians give pleasure to people. mozart wrote and played music, which allowed people to dance. do you listen to the radio? oh, yes. what books do you have on your bedside table? I have no books close to my bed, the one that I'm reading on is always nearby, on a table or on a chair... at the moment I'm rereading wittgenstein, "in life, it is not neccessary to do a lot, but to do well" he says something like this, infact he did very little but he is one of the most important philosophers in history. do you read design magazines? no, yesterday I was waiting for somebody and I had a look at domus. where do you get news from? the street. do you notice how women are dressing? sure what kind of clothing do you avoid? I have no idea. do you have any pets? no but I'm very attached to a friend’s dog, she has appeared three times in my work. where do you work on your designs and projects? airplane, hotel room and toilet who would you like to design something for? a very serious problem is that most of the people have lost the connection with the society, they don’t work for the needs of soceity. they work for academic, esthetic and formal reasons. they risk being marginalized from real life. we have to answer peoples' needs, create something useful, give joy and happiness. is there any designer in past who have influenced you a lot? yes I think mies van de rohe was a great innovator, he did a complete process, this type of real innovation always includes 3 things : innovation in language, material and tecnology. another figure who may be greater is michelangelo or caravaggio, leonardo for the multidisciplinary. what about colleagues; are there any particular you appreciate? I think frank gehry is a very good architect, he's the most interesting architect among traditional architects. which of your projects or designs has given you great satisfaction? I go from one thing to another, my work is not monolithic, so it's difficult to say. describe your style, like a good friend of yours would describe it. when I was 17 I wrote , as an introduction to the catalogue of my first exhibition, that we have the right to be incoherent, meaning that we are free from ourselves, so there is no style, no repetition. you told me you prefer to talk about men and women, you find it much more interesting than talking about design. yes, no..about feminility and masculinity. we are the product of a 5000 year history, we thought that the best way to think is the masculine way. using the masculine side of our brain. our best values were coherence, strength, homogeneity, dogmatism, seriousness, rigidity. it's been a long time that I've thought we have to use the other side of the brain. the one we use when we joke or when we are drunk, without control. the female side of the brain is multidisciplinary, full of feeling, it is the bridge, joy, elasticity, softness, all the characteristics of this historic moment. so if you think about architecture, we have masculine architecture : rigid, abstract, sad, homogenuos, against the human body. we need feminine architecture, which is much more friendly to the human being. on the news they said that italians are afraid of unemployment, criminality and pollution. what are you afraid of for the future? no. europe in 1500’s, when they discovered america and an enormous expansion to another continent happened. we are in the same situation now. when life is not any more possible here, we'll go to another planet.	new york sunset, prototype, 1983 courtesy gaetano pesce new york sunset, sofa, 1983 produced by cassina courtesy gaetano pesce 'sansone', table, sketch, 1979 courtesy gaetano pesce 'sansone', table, 1979 produced by cassina courtesy gaetano pesce
the questionaire of marcel proust (1871 - 1922) .................................................................................................................................................... (in age of fourteen proust was given an english album "confessions : an album to record thoughts, feelings". seven years later marcel proust published this questionaire) in the literary salons in nineteenth century paris, this parlour game was a popular amusement. for designboom gaetano pesce has answered these 'old fashioned' questions. ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
the main lineaments of my character. inconsistency a quality I desire in a man. no idea, I don't like men's mentality a quality I desire in a woman. all I told you in the interview what I appreciate most among my friends. capacity of surprise my principal defect. I become bored very often my favourite occupation. is my work my dream of felicity. I'm happy what would for me be the biggest misfortune. conformism whom I would like to be. myself the country were I would like to live. where I live the colour I prefer. red the flower I love. the gardenia, the rose the bird I prefer. crows, in visconti's film "touch me" there are crows that fly in groups, while eagles fly alone my favourite authors. joyce, beckett, borroughs my favourite poets. bukowsky is extraordinary my heroes in fiction. - my heroines in fiction. - my favourite composers. I told you in the interview my favourite artists. duchamp my heroes in real life. ordinary people on the street my heroines in history. there are 5000 years of values... my favourite names. - what I hate most. the conformists the historic characters I dislike most. those that are the symbol of something very negative the military enterprise I like most. - the reformation I appreciate most. we are in an incredible revolution today, computers, internet.... the natures gift I would like to have. patience how I would like to die. if it is possible in the most unpainful way my soul's present condition. good the faults I can bear. stress my motto. errare umanum est, perseverare diabolicum - more than that : it's stupid to repeat the same experience	'cannaregio', componible sofas, sketch, 1983 courtesy gaetano pesce crosby chair, 1999, for de padova courtesy gaetano pesce floor lamp, 1998 courtesy gaetano pesce project for lingotto, turin italy. courtesy gaetano pesce
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