From spinning top to robot among Balla, Casorati and Capogrossi: an exhibition on toys in Pontedera

On view until April 22, 2018 (it opened last Nov. 11) is the exhibition La trottola e il robot. Between Balla, Casorati and Capogrossi, at PALP Palazzo Pretorio in Pontedera (province of Pisa). The aim of the exhibition, curated by Daniela Fonti and Filippo Bacci di Capaci, is to present the toys of yesteryear through a selection of one hundred and ten works by Italian artists active between 1860 and 1980, with the extremes set precisely by the spinning top and the robot. Toys created by craftsmen and then by industry, present in the works of great artists (such as Giacomo Balla, Federico Zandomeneghi, Felice Casorati, Duilio Cambellotti, Vittorio Corcos, Giulio Aristide Sartorio, Giuseppe Capogrossi, and Fortunato Depero).

“The Spinning Top and the Robot,” reads the presentation of the Tuscan exhibition, “compares two aspects of creativity related to childhood, the one that is translated into the concrete objects, toys, once created by artisans and then by industry, and the one that represents and interprets childhood play in Italian figurative and plastic arts, from the late 19th century to the second half of the 20th century. These are two separate universes, which only from time to time have found a way to mirror each other (the toys) in the others (the works of art), and the long tale of figures and objects that unfolds in the exhibition halls of Palazzo Pretorio offers from different, dialectical or integrated points of view an unprecedented and suggestive observatory on the changes in Italian society Italian society over the decades, on the variations in pedagogical, life and thought models and on the often controversial relationship between the world of adults and the - much more mysterious - world of children.”

The exhibition is divided by thematic-chronological nuclei: from models of dollhouses and miniature furniture as a representation of domestic intimacy to representations of moments of play between children and adults, and again outdoor games that predispose children to a different perception of the world to theater and circus, fantasy and play as a means of developing learning skills and critical faculties, and again, at the conclusion of the itinerary, the hall of automata that refers to the beginnings of automation, computer science and robotics.

In addition, from Friday, January 26, a series of lectures will accompany the exhibition: the meetings will be devoted to the theme of childhood and the way it has been represented in the figurative arts from the late 19th century to the 1980s. The four meetings, all with free admission, will be held every three weeks right in the rooms of the museum of Palazzo Pretorio in Pontedera. The schedule of meetings: Friday, January 26, at 9 p.m. The Children’s Room. Games, furniture and readings for childhood in the first half of the twentieth century (curated by Matteo Fochessati, curator of the Wolfsoniana in Genoa); Friday, Feb. 16 at 9 p.m. Play, childhood and art from Futurism to the 1960s (curated by Daniela Fonti, curator of the exhibition, and Claudia Terenzi, who wrote the introductory texts for the sections of the catalog); Wednesday, March 7 at 5 p.m:30 Making , Thinking and Inventing Games in Education (curated by Matteo Frasca, president of the Matura Infancy Association) and Wednesday, March 21 at 5:30 p.m. The Game of Exploration (curated by Gianfranco Staccioli, pedagogue).

The Spinning Top and the Robot. Between Balla, Casorati and Capogrossi can be visited at PALP Palazzo Pretorio in Pontedera every day (except Monday, closing day) from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. The full price is 7 euros, the reduced 5. The exhibition was created around a prestigious collection of vintage toys owned by the City of Rome and is promoted by the Fondazione per la Cultura Pontedera, the Municipality of Pontedera and the Pisa Foundation, in collaboration with the Institute of Biorobotics of the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa and under the patronage of the Region of Tuscany and the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Tourism. Catalog published by Bandecchi & Vivaldi with texts by the curators and Cristina Biagi, Giovanna Conti, Paolo Dario, Emma Marconcini, Gianfranco Staccioli and Claudia Terenzi. For all information you can visit www.palp-pontedera.it.

In the photo: a room of the exhibition

From spinning top to robot among Balla, Casorati and Capogrossi: an exhibition on toys in Pontedera

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