Cinzia Ruggeri: Cinzia says…

Ciao!

I’m happy to announce the opening of Cinzia says…, the first major retrospective dedicated to artist and fashion designer Cinzia Ruggeri (1942–2019), an unconventional figure who moved freely between different disciplines. Her life and multifaceted practice were animated by the desire to redefine the formal and functional status of everyday elements: from clothing to accessories, furniture to lighting. Cinzia Ruggeri was capable of creating a world based on an imaginative, provocative, elegant, and never predictable imaginary. With a continuous semantic metamorphosis, she investigated the expressive and behavioural potential of objects, as well as the architectural and social dimensions of the human body.

As a tribute to one of the protagonists of Italian creativity, the exhibition aims to offer as broad and complete a vision as possible of her career, thanks to in-depth research conducted in collaboration with Archivio Cinzia Ruggeri in Milan.

True to Cinzia Ruggeri’s approach, my SOLO/MULTI section is transformed with the intent to defy any form of material or disciplinary classification. The exhibition display draws on certain recurring motifs in the artist’s research, such as the ziggurat, mixing them with supports that suggest the forms of postmodern design and creating an overall immersive atmosphere.

The exhibition features a selection of more than 150 accessories and garments from the Bloom, Cinzia Ruggeri and Cinzio Ruggeri collections, restored and presented for the first time since their runway debuts in the 1970s and 1980s. Some of these pieces are grouped to focus on specific projects or collaborations, such as those with Studio Alchimia, Occhiomagico and the performer and choreographer Valeria Magli, others are suspended from the ceiling, providing unusual perspectives.

The artist’s works, objects and installations scattered across the exhibition space create a mise-en-scène that is rich in contrasts and different meanings. In addition to the works made in more recent years, two installation projects are reconstructed: la règle du jeu?, the artist’s last show presented just a few months before her death in 2019, and La leggerezza del peso, shown in 1989 in the context of the event Abitare il Tempo, under the art direction of Ugo La Pietra.

The playful title Cinzia says… is based on the opening lyrics of the song Elettrochoc by Matia Bazar, the band with which Ruggeri collaborated, occasionally designing their costumes.

The exhibition is accompanied by a public programme that will involve several personalities with whom Cinzia Ruggeri collaborated and knew.

A monograph conceived as an expanded timeline will be created for the occasion, issued by Mousse Publishing. The publication is produced thanks to the support of the Italian Council (9th edition, 2020), program to promote Italian contemporary art in the world by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture. 

Cinzia says… will be presented at the Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art in London in October 2022. 

Please visit my website for updates, extra content and to to explore all my current exhibitions.

I’m waiting for you!