Cardillo

“Quest’anno, come omaggio alla mostra Postmodernismo: Stile e Sovversione 1970-90, il London Design Festival ha commissionato all’architetto Antonino Cardillo la creazione di uno Caffé Postmoderno aperto durante il Festival all’ingresso del Victoria & Albert Museum sulla Exhibition Road. L’ingresso dedicato al London Design Festival vuole ospitare il Caffé Postmoderno come omaggio ai maestri del movimento; il caffé sarà una giocosa riedizione del coloratissimo movimento postmoderno, per rilassarsi, riposarsi e bere qualcosa durante le visite alla mostra.”

— London Design Festival

Aston Webb, Facciata del Victoria and Albert Museum sulla Exhibition Road, [demolita nel 2014], Londra, 1909. Fotografia di Antonino Cardillo.

Mies + Venturi. Modern in plan and ‘post’ in elevation, Postmodern Café is a divertissement, a quest between Mies Van Der Rohe and Robert Venturi.

Archetypes. Like huge frescoes, the façades recall the Pre-Modern bond between Painting and Architecture. Vinyl graffiti refigure archetypal themes of Tympanum and Arc: the first – seen from Exhibition Road – features two contrapositive triangles in a Suprematistic broken tympanum. The second – diagonally perceived from the gate of the V&A – paints a stretched arc framing a shard of the neoclassical wall behind, counterpointing two existing enlarged columns.

Urban baroque strategy. Two ephemeral façades fluctuate across the V&A’s 1970s Exhibition Road hall, capturing glances as in a baroque strategy.

Symmetry and negation. Although symmetrical, they are perceived from diagonal points of view. The front view seems to be denied by the pathway.

Inflection. On the walls, figures converge toward the centre. Though symmetrical overall, each side is unequal.

Stripes. Crossing the space, there are stripes everywhere, evoking ephemeral structure on a shoreline and retroactive presages close to Giò Ponti and Postmodernism: Art is fluid. Although categorized, it escapes boundaries.

Dati

Tempo: ago-set 2011
Luogo: V&A Museum, Cromwell Rd, Knightsbridge, London, UK
Area: 250 m²

Crediti

Cliente: London Design Festival (via Suzanne Trocmé)
Direttore: Ben Evans
Vice direttore: William Knight
Consulente: Suzanne Trocmé
Capo del LDF al V&A: Victoria Broackes
Architetto: Antonino Cardillo
Grafica: Antonino Cardillo
Fotografia: Antonino Cardillo
Testo: Antonino Cardillo

Bibliografia

ANTONINO CARDILLO
Interviewed by Ralf Broekman and Olaf Winkler, build Das Architekten-Magazin, no.5/11, Wuppertal, Oct 2011.

The London Design Festival 2011 Guide, London, Sep 2011.

vam.ac.uk, London, Victoria & Albert Museum, retrivied 26 Aug 2011.

londondesignfestival.com, London, retrivied 26 Aug 2011.