'antibodies' by fernando and humberto campana at the triennale museum , at the entrance the 'cabanas' installation, containers produced by edra
image © designboom


showing at the triennale museum in milan, italy, 'antibodies' is an exhibition
highlighting the extensive work of fernando and humberto campana over the past 20 years.
with their visually rich language firmly anchored in their native land of brazil,
the brothers draw from a rich palette of colours, forms and materials to communicate
the many facets and contradictions of their environment. through a kind of immunological process,
they understand the notion of design as a cultural appropriation of influences, navigating
and transcending the boundaries of art and design in the form of on-off pieces and limited editions.

visitors are encouraged to explore the projects freely in an undetermined sequence,
which have been loosely arranged in groups to trace the artistic strategies, motifs and
sources of inspiration of the designers. themes include, 'hybrids', 'organics', 'fragments',
'clusters' and 'sticks', all of which chronicle and illustrate the full spectrum of the brothers' works.



(left) 'prived ocra' chandelier, 2003
raffia, swarovski crystals, LED, cabelling

'jenette' chair, 2005
polyurethane, PVC

'cabana' cupboard, 2010
aluminum, rafia
see more images of 'cabana' and the entire 'barbarian' series here

(right) 'taquaral' chair, 2000
bamboo, powder-coated steel
images © designboom


objets trouvés
reinterpreting everyday objects and materials from non-design contexts and utilizing
them to create new works is a practice that italian designer achille castiglioni employed
back in the 1950s. however, while castiglioni was most interested in the resulting functional
effects, the campanas foreground the artistic concept in a way similar to both surrealism
and the cult objects of indigenous societies: the histories already contained in the objects
and materials imbue the new piece with additional meanings.



'transcloud' ceiling lamp, 2007
steel, rattan, polypropylene, light bulb, cabling

'diamantina III' seating landscape, 2008
steel, rattan, amethysts

'gallon lamp 6' floor lamp, 2007
plastic canisters, rattan, light bulbs, cabling
image © designboom


hybrids
in their 'mixed series', begun in 1997, the campanas juxtaposed organic and inorganic,
natural and industrial, 'warm' and 'cold' materials. with their 'transplastics' series,
initiated in 2007, they have once again taken up this approach by inter-weaving wicker
with unexpected materials. already in his early artisan objects, humberto had made
use of the three-dimensional malleability of wickerwork; today, the material is employed
in lighting and seating units to produce large-scale figurative sculptures.



details of 'gallon lamp 6'
images © designboom



(left) in the foreground: 'una famiglia' suite, 2006
polypropylene chairs, iron structure, rattan

(top right) 'shark' easy chair, 2000
stainless steel, polycarbonate, cane

(bottom right) 'cafe chair' child's armchair, 2006
polypropylene chair, rattan
images © designboom



detail of 'shark' easy chair
image © designboom



exhibition view of 'paper pieces'
image © designboom


paper pieces
inspired by the stacks of cardboard that are reused and recycled by the junk collectors
and homeless of sao paulo's streets, the campanas came up with the idea of taking
advantage of the transparency revealed when looking directly at the narrow cut edges
of the material and using it to create light pieces and partition screens. following
these initial experiments, they soon began to utilize cardboard in tables and seating
furniture as well.



in the foreground (from left to right):
'papel' side table, 1993
corrugated cardboard, aluminium, glue, acrylic paint

'papel' sofa, 1993
corrugated cardboard, stainless steel, glue

'untitled' chair, 1995
cardboard, glue, wrapping paper
image © designboom




exhibition view of 'fragments'
image © designboom


fragments
the fragmentation and reassembly of an object is an established artistic technique.
for impressionists it served to infuse a momentary sensation with life, while in
cubism it expressed the simultaneity of varying perspectives. humberto utilized this
approach in his early terracotta sculptures in order to depict inner and outer disjointedness.
with the 'favela' armchair of 1991, the motif became a tribute to improvisation and ephemera.



'são paulo' carpet, 2010
wool, hand-knoted
image © designboom



(left) 'untitled' barstool, 2006
wood, leather, foam

(right) 'untitled' fruit bowl, 2008
leather, glue, polyamide thread
image © designboom



'untitled' screen, 2006
polystyrene, wrapping paper
image © designboom




in the foreground: 'peter and the wolf; wolf' stage prop, 2008
wood, glue
the figure was created for the campanas' set of a production of sergei prokofiev's musical fable 'peter and the wolf'
performed at new york's guggenheim museum during the 2008 christmas season

in the background: 'untitled' fruit bowl, 2006
merged parts of plastic dolls, lacquer
image © designboom



exhibition view of 'clusters'
image © designboom


clusters
extracting manufactured or found materials and objects from their original context and
clustering them together in order to create a newly formed mass is a recurring technique
of the campanas. even with cheap, readily available materials, the method renders an
illusion of luxury. the baroque roots of brazilian culture, the excessive growth of the
tropical flora, and the population explosion of brazil's metropolitan centers offer striking
models for this motif.




'tokyo garden' table centrepiece, 2005
glass, ethylene vinyl acetate, rubber, carpet, fabric
image © designboom



'circus' carpet, 2010
hemp and rag dolls
image © designboom




hanging installation
glass, rope
image © designboom




detail
image © designboom



exhibition view of 'sticks'
(from left to right) 'untitled' mirror, 2008
mirror glass, scotch tape

'pedra azul' chair, 2004
lacquered steel wire

'batuque' vase, 2000
glass
image © designboom


sticks
the series of objects that the campanas constructed as a jumble of sticks seems to reflect
artificial, man-made chaos - an impression also evoked by such titles as 'batugue' or 'blow up'.
this series was initiated by one of humberto's first works in metal: the 'grelha' sculpture,
which resembles the frame of an oversized ('barbecued') chair, thus coming across as a
cynical commentary on design.



'escultura' screen, 1993
aluminum
image © designboom



(left to right) 'bob' armchair, 1990
steel wire

'corallo' armchair, 2004
lacquered steel wire

image © designboom



(in the foreground) 'novelo' sofa, 2003
lacquered steel wire
image © designboom



exhibition view of 'organics'
image © designboom


organics
overabundant yet threatened by overexploitation, the natural environment of brazil has been
a source of regeneration and inspiration that the campanas have sought out again and again
ever since their childhood. the diverse extremes of tropical forms and colours are processed
into highly imaginative interior objects, which in turn come across like organic beings and
thus enliven their surroundings. yet, at the same time, some of their earliest works appear
as mutations spawned by the contact with civilization. 



(left) detail of 'kaiman jacarè' sofa, 2006
(right) detail of 'boa' sofa, 2002
polyurethane foam
images © designboom