The creations of a large group of “food designers” are at the centre of “The Food Project. The shape of taste” exhibition, with which the Mart, Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto presents the art of industrial projects and experimental design applied to foods.

It sees the participation of such designers and architects as Enrico Azzimonti, Bompas&Parr, Achille Castiglioni, Stephan Bureaux, Lorenzo Damiani, Florence Doleac, FormaFantasma, Giorgetto Giugiaro, Marije Vogelzang, Marti Guixé, Giulio Iachetti, Marcel Wanders, Enzo Mari, Alessandro Mendini, Katja Grujters, Konstantin Grcic, Gaetano Pesce, Diego Ramos, Philippe Starck and leading chefsi, like Gualtiero Marchesi, together with Bruno Barbieri, Massimo Bottura, Antonino Cannavacciuolo, Carlo Cracco, Daniel Facen, Davide Oldani and Davide Scabin.

The exhibition is divided into a number of thematic areas and opens with a tribute to the “Good Design” book written by Bruno Munari 50 years ago, in which the great maestro taught his readers to read the products of nature, like oranges, as though they were objects of design, stressing their “functional and performance” characteristics with irony and precision.

Starting with the lesson, the exhibition reveals some “anonymous foods” through a series of graphic interpretations, to reveal their traditional forms in their sophisticated and precise architectural connotations: because behind such geographically connoted foods – like sushi or strudel, but also lasagna, and arancino or oliva ascolana  – is frequently concealed a planning approach that is the result of a careful compromise between image, taste and production. A basic and omnipresent food – bread – will be presented in a series of different forms, displayed like sculptures to stress their aesthetic “fineness”.

There will also be a site-specific project made for the Mart by Martì Guixé, one of the new masters of design, and one of those who has most applied his talent to the world of food, revealing further expressive possibilities in a field that is so fundamental to our lives.
The exhibition ends with an overview of the future of food, with some brilliant and often very young talented designers who will for the first time present creations in the museum’s rooms that are not merely experimental and sophisticated, but also profoundly marked by an ethical and social tension.

A busy programme of events will involve chefs of international standing, who will hold a series of evening cooking shows in the exhibition rooms. Workshops with the designers will provide visitors with the opportunity to create jewels and sculptures from local products. During the whole exhibition period, the visit will also enable the public to taste some free titbits and meet the protagonists of the exhibition.
 

On the web
A set of images by Fernando Guerra on flickr
Our staff created a Pinterest board on the exhibition project
The '900 Century Archive of the Mart has a tumblr page on "The Food Project"
A video playlist on Youtube
Intervista di Elisabetta Pozzetti al curatore Beppe Finessi, guarda il video
All the martcooking flickr sets