british sculptor alex chinneck, known for inverting electricity pylons and tying grandfather clocks in knots, has ‘unzipped’ the façade of a building in milan as part of the city’s design week festivities. to create the dramatic effect, chinneck created a totally new elevation in the style of traditional milanese architecture, which appears to open up to reveal the building’s interior. the interior spaces, on the other hand, are radically transformed through unexpected ‘openings’ in the cement pavement and stone walls.
all images by marc wilmot
serving as the project’s distinctive feature, the zip is used as a device through which the artist gives way to a series of surreal crevices from which an ethereal and weightless light disseminates. ‘through the repeated use of the zipper, we have opened up the fabric of a seemingly historic milanese building to playfully re-imagine what lies behind its façade, floors and walls,’ explains alex chinneck.
the walls and floor become metaphors for a process of transformation, evoking — through a series of portals — seemingly infinite routes to a newly imagined future. ‘ethereal light pours through each opening, filling the space with color and filling the work with a sense of positivity and potential,’ chinneck continues. the project spazio quattrocento until april 14, 2019 as part of milan design week. see designboom’s ongoing coverage of the world’s biggest design event here.
project info:
artist: alex chinneck
name: IQOS world revealed by alex chinneck
presented by: philip morris international
location: spazio quattrocento – opificio 31, via tortona 31, milan
dates: april 9-14, 2019 from 10AM to 9PM
photography: marc wilmot
alex chinneck (12 articles)
alex chinneck unzips the walls of an abandoned office building
alex chinneck ties antique grandfather clock in a knot of ticks and tocks
alex chinneck ties 450-year-old column into a knot
alex chinneck fractures the façade of a brick building in london
alex chinneck spears inverted electricity pylon into london's greenwich peninsula
alex chinneck melts two-storey wax house in london
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I’ve always been fascinated by zippers. This is really super duper cool!
Love the fact that this ties into the textile design industry in Milan as well. I love Milan.