Defined the current personal attitude towards the work of art and noted the diffusion of the practice of commodification, a design process has been developed. The aim was to reach the user attention and to give back value to the artistic image used for the products on the market.
The proposed projects were all designed starting from the products that can be found in the Arty catalogue.
The first category of project, Papier Collé, takes the name by the technique introduced by Cubism based on overlapping different materials.
Five different t-shirts were designed with the purpose to be personalized using multiple pins with artistic image on. In this way, the user has the possibility to make his own product based on personal experience.
Not only that, the different graphics also allow the users to communicate their experiences in two different ways: on the first version there are three printed-phrases made to match with different pins; while in other versions the user has the possibility to insert the subject of the gadget within two-dimensional contexts, choosing between painting and sculpture, being able to communicate his personal taste and his own experiences.
The second category, named Cabinet, was named by the sixteenth-century practice consisting of dimensioning furniture according to the objects they contain.
The first example, Sunflowers, is based on products that refer to Vincent Van Gogh’s series of paintings. In it, the gadgets were sorted according to their size, placing the larger items at the bottom and the smaller ones at the top.
From this cabinet it emerges that: in front of a large number of products, the single object tends to disappear, while the subject used for the commercialization to stand out.
The second cabinet, dedicated to the work of Piet Mondrian, Composition n.1, is based on the same principle, but in it the individual compartments are positioned in order to resume the original work. In this way, graphical and real geometries are easy to be confused, emphasizing even more the meaning of the container.
The third cabinet project is based on the work of Leonardo da Vinci, Monna Lisa. The prototype consists of 6 wooden frames of different depths, four of which contain objects with a portion of the artwork printed on and two function as spacers. The whole project, in fact, has been thought in function of the fact that by positioning the single modules in succession, and by taking a look inside the cabinet through the hole placed at one end, you can see the face of Monna Lisa recomposed.
In this case, the commodification process plays a more significant role. In fact, although it is possible to locate the gadgets inside the frames taken individually, when these are placed in succession, the eye tends to focus on the recomposition of the image, eliminating the role of the individual object.
The last category is based on the repetition of a single product. On the false line of Wunderkammer — marvels rooms — three different environments have been designed to cause astonishment in the observer by simply taking advantage of the repetition of artifacts.
The first example, Deck Chair, uses the components of deckchairs to define a module made out of wood and canvas which could be used to define spaces of varying dimensions and characteristics. This module, while being designed without making changes to the components of two deckchairs, once it is repeated, leads the user to focus on the printed canvas, and by doing that, on the art-work, losing contact with the real product on which the project is based.
After defining the module, several composition options are presented.
By doubling the single module, and repeating it, you can get a simplified truss that could define a covered environment. Or, by tilting the module elements by three degrees, the users can obtain a variation allowing them to define curved walls. In addition, by doubling and superimposing the module, the users can create complex structures of variable height.
This leads to obtaining environments that allow the user to re-evaluate the art image and to live the reproduction of art in a different way.
In the second project, on the other hand, by repeating 1704 cushions in three rooms, were defined three different environments each one able to give a different feeling by simply taking advantage of few changes in the arrangement of the elements.
Two rooms, of the same size, are characterized by a covering made by several cushions. In the first room, the walls and ceiling are covered with cushions, while the floor is covered by mirrors. In it, using the cushion bearing the Water lilies of Claude Monet, it was obtained an almost dreamlike environment. In the same room were also placed six swings, made out of simple rope and a cushion on which is printed the Oiseau de ciel by René Magritte.
On the contrary, in the other room the mirror are positioned up to the ceiling. There, by using 4 types of pillows reporting works of Vasilij Kandinskij, the result is a more oppressive environment, which was left empty.
The third room is characterized by a double layer of cushions hanging from the ceiling, with height variable from three meters, to the ground. In there, thanks to the lowering of the cushions, two zones are defined: one characterized by a leaning sky, consisting of pillows bearing the art-work Almond blossom by Van Gogh, and the other one by an ascending floor. On that side, the users can admire a lookalike hill mate by cushions on which is printed the Lily pond by Monet.
In this project the aim was to divert the user’s attention from the single object to bring it back to the work of art commercialized, and by doing so, letting the product lose some of its commercial value and regains a symbolic link with the original work of art.
In conclusion, the entire project doesn’t want to be a critique of today’s art consumption, now inherent in our lifestyle, but instead tries to exploit those dynamics to define something new that brings back value to the artistic image.
