Andrea Branzi Trees and Stones

Andrea Branzi

The Italian architect and designer Andrea Branzi, born in 1938, was ahead of his time in Florence in 1966 when he set up Archizoom associati, the first, internationally renowned avant-garde group. In order to define this remarkable character, one must use the vocabulary of projects: theoretical research, new design, experimental laboratory, leeway, mass creativity, new organisation... He also knows how to share his battles, he coordinates and curates exhibitions, he regularly exhibits his personal work, publishes manifestos, teaches generations of students and participates in conferences all over the world. In fact, multiple spaces would be needed to cover all angles of the man: a screening room, an auditorium, a museum and more than a few metres of shelf space.

Andrea Branzi is passionate about the morphology of urban space; he breaks down the accepted codes and vigorously shakes the foundations of the ever-present conventions. Today more than ever, this insatiable troublemaker continues to disrupt the status quo and places humans and nature at the centre of his thinking.

« Trees » represents a continuation of his thinking on architecture. He creates a minimalist space of shelves, veritable pieces of micro-architecture made from aluminium that spread out in neo-plastic bursts like a Mondrian. However, through the splits in the frame, Andrea Branzi introduces trunks and twigs gathered in the wild. This strange encounter that began in the eighties with « Animali domestici », questions the duality of the nature-culture relationship.

With « Trees and Stones », he adds a dimension, an extra slice of soul, as nature becomes art, a contemporary icon, an emotional window linked to the knowledge of the vital importance of this precious, common heritage.