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In 1974 Marazzi patented the single-firing process, a technology that revolutionised the manufacture of industrial ceramics, sharply reducing both the times and the energy use involved. The patent marked a technological leap forward, not just for the company but for the industry as a whole. As it had already done with Gio Ponti and then with the artists of the Crogiolo ideas crucible, Marazzi turned to the creativity of international artists to portray on the one hand its ceramic materials and on the other its production processes, expressing the identity of a product that was more than “merely” decorative and functional. In 1977, the company commissioned Gianni Berengo Gardin to create photographs of its new production lines, granting him complete freedom of expression. To celebrate the ground-breaking patent’s 50th anniversary, Marazzi has sponsored the exhibition entitled Gianni Berengo Gardin. Marazzi, le linee veloci at the Palazzo Ducale Sassuolo – Gallerie Estensi, which presents a selection of unpublished and previously unexhibited works in which the Master Photographer explores a vision unusual for him: abstract and in colour.
“My memories of the project are rather vague,” Gianni Berengo Gardin explains, “but I do remember I was fascinated by the colours and the high speed of the machines. And, although I was generally known for my photojournalism and industrial photoshoots in black and white, such as for Olivetti, and FIAT and Ansaldo, luckily I had some colour film with me. My relationship with Marazzi was one of my best ever, as they gave me complete freedom to choose what I wanted to shoot. So I produced photographs of a kind I didn’t usually take, conceptual and abstract, which industrial companies generally didn’t want because they didn’t provide clear images of the machines and the production process. It was an unusual project for me: with colour, I was able to reflect the intrinsic nature of the ceramic material.”
Exhibition curator Alessandra Mauro adds: “the photographs for Marazzi prove Gianni Berengo Gardin’s versatility and his ability to look at things with fresh eyes. They’re abstract photographs, full of motion, which express a transformation of work and technology.” However, they are still consistent with Berengo Gardin’s preferred subjects, as he “often worked with private clients and companies to document industry and social issues. The exhibition and publication which present his photographs for Marazzi are an important record”. And, just as Gianni Berengo Gardin was struck by the high-speed production lines, the design of the exhibition at the Palazzo Ducale in Sassuolo, with the photographs placed in sequence, one after another, aims to convey the impression of high-speed lines in conveyor-belt style.
“I document people’s lives in all their various aspects,” Berengo Gardin explains, “at home, at work, within the landscape. But never as portraits in themselves; always to record the context where the activity takes place. They’re not artistic photographs but rather works of documentation, which will serve as records of our society in two hundred years’ time, for example, when we’re all dead and gone. Photography has to have content as well as aesthetic appeal. Otherwise you’re just an amateur.”
“Gianni Berengo Gardin’s works embody the character of the high-speed single-firing lines and this technology’s revolutionary scope,” comments Marazzi’s General Manager Leonardo Taviani. “They are paradigmatic of Marazzi’s ability to work with artists and designers to bring fresh influences into the world of ceramics. It’s also significant that the exhibition is in Sassuolo, the most important of all ceramic tile districts, where Marazzi was founded in 1935. This nourishes our bond with the area’s outstanding features, such as the Palazzo Ducale and the Campanone clock tower, just renovated with funding from our company, proving our ongoing commitment to supporting the district’s cultural needs.”
Gianni Berengo Gardin.
Marazzi, le linee veloci
Curated by Alessandra Mauro
13 September – 31 December 2024
Gallerie Estensi – Palazzo Ducale in Sassuolo
Piazzale della Rosa 10
Sassuolo, Modena