L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2019 www.italoamericano.org 4 MoMa speaks Italian: FIAT 500 at the heart of 20th century design T he iconic FIAT 500, s y m b o l o f I t a l y ' s post war economic renaissance, became p a r t o f M o M A ' s permanent collection last year, but 2019 brings even more lus- t r e t o t h e t i n y I t a l i a n f o u r - wheels, as it will be one of the centrepieces of The Value of Good Design exhibition. The kermess will take place from the 10th of February to the 27th of May and will tell the amazing s t o r y o f i n d u s t r i a l d e s i g n , a story made of beauty, history and exceptional versatility. What a great achievement for our beloved 500, a car whose image still speaks to the years of the Italian economic boom, times of carefree happiness after decades of poverty, war and anguish. Martino Stierli, the Philip Johnson Chief Curator of A r c h i t e c t u r e a n d D e s i g n a t MoMA declared to La Repub- blica that "Fiat 500 is a true icon if automotive history that man- aged to change the way cars were designed and produced in Italy. This is why," Stierli con- tinues, "we decided to add this masterpiece of daily life to our collection: it allows us to widen M o M A ' s s t o r y t e l l i n g a b o u t a u t o m o t i v e d e s i g n . " M o M A made a statement also in the c h o i c e o f w h i c h 5 0 0 c a r t o exhibit, picking a series F model - one of the most common - that well represents the beauty and e x t r a o r d i n a r y i n n o v a t i o n i t e m b o d i e d w h e n i t f i r s t appeared. But in these early days of 2019, FIAT 500 makes the head- lines, as said, especially for its presence in The Value of Good Design exhibition, where the most influential and life-chang- ing creations of the past 80 years take the stage, from home appli- ances to cars, all the way to glass, ceramics, sport equipment and toys. Taking inspiration from MoMA exhibits from the 1930s to the 1950s, the idea of curators is to show how good design went hand in hand with technological innovation to cre- ate products that were finally widely available to all: a cele- bration of beauty, then, but also of the typically modern phenom- enon of market's democratiza- tion. By placing an accent on the central values of 20th century s o c i e t y , T h e V a l u e o f G o o d Design wants to be thought-pro- voking and engage the public with considerations about what we consider to be "good design" today. FIAT 500 is a real symbol of the amazing value of design in a social context. Price wise, it was the first car accessible to all, thanks to a wise choice of eco- nomic but quality materials used to create a reliable product. Pro- d u c t i o n b e g a n i n 1 9 5 7 , w i t h more than 4 million models sold around the world between then and 1975. Design choices were essential to make it so popular, because FIAT 500 wasn't only cheaper than other cars, but also extremely appealing from an aesthetic point of view: it was fun and colorful, just what the world needed after the gloom and pain of years of war and economic struggles. The mind behind it was that of Dante Giacosa, who started working for FIAT in 1927 and FIAT 500 is not only part of MoMA's permanent collection, but is also at the heart of The Value of Good Design exhibition © Giovanni Gagliardi | Dreamstime.com FRANCESCA BEZZONE Continued to page 6 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS 500 was created by FIAT engineer Dante Giacosa © Angelo Cordeschi | Dreamstime.com

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