Alessandro Calabrese is a visual artist who works with images and words, sometimes with his own, in other cases with others whose images he appropriates.

On the occasion of the PIC- Patrimonio Industriale Contemporaneo project, he joined AIKU research group of Ca Foscari University Venice to develop artistic research focused on the representation of the design company Arper.

Calabrese interpreted the absence of a corporate archive as an operational pretext to construct a new narrative. A narrative born from the assemblage of iconographic repertoire composed of domestic images, Venetian landscapes, products, photos of production spaces, and portraits of Arper’s founding family. In parallel, he created performative moments. The first was a “tribute to the uncomfortable chair” by Bruce and Thomas. The remaining two involved the company’s employees. Together with the artist, they redesigned Arper’s iconic products and, in a second moment, staged the “musical chairs” game to the tune of Franco Battiato’s “Gente in progresso.”

The synopsis of his residency was an art publication interpreting Arper’s history in an achronological manner, juxtaposing, by assonance, the iconographic collection with images from the performances.