Dissonant Classicism - Tellurico x Neostandard
Address: Florinis 15, Moschato 183 46 [Venue provided by KN Group]
Date[s] of performance/opening to the public: Thursday 30th of September – October 5th
Operating Hours: Monday-Saturday 11-7PM
Introducing ADF International Design Program
“Dissonant Classicism” is a performance designed and realized by Tellurico and Neostandard for Athens Design Forum 2021. The aim of the performance is to use a classical craft for the creation of functional collectible design objects. For this specific performance, the studios focus on the technique of “stucco,’’ an ancient technique common in many Mediterranean countries such as Greece. It was used for covering walls and pillars of classical buildings, often reproducing precious stones like marble and granite. The vision is to use the classical knowledge of the crafts and to apply them to contemporary aesthetics. The objects that will be produced can be categorized as “functional sculptures,’’ which means objects with sculptural facades that serve a specific function. However, the final design is still unknown and will be shaped during the performance.
Abstract: “Everything can happen, everything is possible and probable. Time and place do not exist; on a significant basis of reality, the imagination spins, weaving new patterns; a mixture of memories, experiences, free fancies, incongruities and improvisations.” This is how, in 1901, August Strindberg begins his book “The Dream”, with the same quotation that also ends the movie “Fanny and Alexander” by Ingmar Bergman.
Tellurico and Neostandard treasure in this sentence, even if it is written in relation to the function of modern theatre, one of the nuclei of the idea that drives and motivates the birth of this project. This is the spirit in which “Dissonant Classicism” was born, a project that stems from an analysis of the value of traditional techniques from the world of the arts, both applied and plastic, in the current production of design pieces.
Design has become a true form of contemporary language, breaking down the barriers between architecture and art and straddling these two disciplines. This has given rise to a current in which designers have approached traditional production techniques, readapting them to a contemporary aesthetic and at the same time enriching them with an experimental vision, thus transforming them into tools for innovation. The re-appropriation of these “classic” production processes has formed a discipline in which ancient craft production techniques are reinterpreted and adapted by contemporary designers to modern socio-economic dynamics. In this way, old and new techniques are fused with different visions and aesthetic needs, material studies, and possible applications. Reflecting not only on functionality but also questioning the values and aesthetic and perceptive standards regarding the production of an object. A working methodology that goes beyond the product, and opens up space for a multi-discipline aimed at encapsulating the reflection of its own context.
//
TELLURICO After graduating with the Master of Contextual Design at Design Academy of Eindhoven, in 2017 Francesco Pace founded Tellurico, a multidisciplinary design studio specialized in objects, spaces and installations design. The investigation of alternative solutions through the study of folklore, together with the relationship between crafts and the environment has been the center of Tellurico’s practice. The context in which a project is born has been the primary focus of these years’ research. What binds the objects of a place to the characteristic of the place itself intertwines the historical, geological, and social aspects of humankind, as well as the uniqueness and simplicity of every-day life. It is an always expanding field of investigation, as endless are the ways to live. Tellurico lives and works in the Netherlands.
//
NEOSTANDARD Neostandard is an experimental design studio based between Madrid and Eindhoven. The studio addresses the origin of production processes in relation to the human habits of the 21st century. By doing so, it seeks to make projects that rethink the role of design in the current society and the cultural constructions associated with it. Using non-structured design strategies and different materials and media, the aim of Neostandard is to develop new ways of seeing and engaging with contemporary material culture.
Francesco Pace of Tellurico
Stefano Fusani of Neostandard