An exhibition in Sassuolo until 3 November celebrates the 50th anniversary of the revolutionary patent for rapid single-firing, a true technological leap forward in the ceramics sector signed by the Emilian brand

Ceramics as a tool to explore themes such as the function of photography, its being a tool to interrogate the world, to understand collective and shared perception, to analyse matter, its representation, and the illusion derived from it. Marazzi has always had a particular attitude towards art photography, involving great masters, digging a deep furrow between industrial and commercial photography, between the specific weight of the work and its intended use.

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© Gianni Berengo Gardin and Marazzi Group

The Fast Lines of Gianni Berengo Gardin

For the first time, a selection of previously unpublished shots taken by Gianni Berengo Gardin, called upon by Marazzi in 1977 to document the new ‘fast lines’, is presented to the public in the Sale della Musica, degli Incanti e dei Sogni of the Palazzo Ducale in Sassuolo - Gallerie Estensi (Modena) until 3 November, revealing a unique and innovative approach to industrial photography of the time.

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© Gianni Berengo Gardin and Marazzi Group

A revolutionary technological patent

It was 1974 when Marazzi invented rapid single-firing, a revolutionary technological patent that changed the tile production process forever. In order to document this technological leap, fundamental not only for the company but for the entire sector, three years later Gianni Berengo Gardin was invited to document these new production lines.

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© Gianni Berengo Gardin and Marazzi Group

The fast flow of colours

In his adventure with Marazzi, Berengo Gardin found himself immersed in an efficient environment with an international flavour, of which he was fascinated by the speed of production and that conveyor belt where colours, shapes and patterns seemed to mingle in a vortex. ‘It was immediately clear to me that the professional challenge was to be able to capture the fast flow of colours, the dynamic wake of shapes,’ the photographer recalls. ‘Colour, which I had always used very little, therefore imposed itself as a choice. I also tried to work differently from what I normally did. Here I often changed the distance, getting very close to the subjects, in order to be able to capture details, fragments of what I saw and thus create photos that were different from the others: dreamy, colourful, almost abstract.’

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© Gianni Berengo Gardin and Marazzi Group

A conceptual approach

The subject thus became for him the colourful rhythm of production, different from other industrial contexts in which he had worked. ‘I am grateful to Marazzi for allowing me the freedom to make photographs like these, which are abstract and somehow anticipate a conceptual approach that was unusual at that time in industrial photography, where a more objective, documentary documentation of the product was generally required. A feast for the eyes and, for me, a very original work.’

A selection of 42 shots

In the selection of 42 works taken from this unique series, ‘Berengo Gardin abandons the proper distance of the social photographer, the one he has always used to portray people, he approaches the gears and creates a series of macro visions for an almost abstract narrative made up of isolated elements, dynamic shapes, strips of colour that turn and get lost, skilful hands moving on the ribbons in the Marazzi factories,’ says curator Alessandra Mauro.

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© Gianni Berengo Gardin and Marazzi Group

A photographic fresco

The images created by Berengo Gardin for Marazzi become pieces of a photographic fresco that takes shape within the work space: a space that from concrete becomes abstract, within which moves, in a dynamic flow, a pressing carousel, a dance of colours and shapes.

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© Gianni Berengo Gardin and Marazzi Group

Experimenting and narrating Marazzi

‘The relationship between Marazzi's production and the artistic expressions of visual arts, architecture, fashion and design, is a story that has repeatedly intertwined and met with great masters of the lens, such as Luigi Ghirri, Charles Traub or Cuchi White, and of the pencil, such as Gio Ponti, Nino Caruso or Paco Rabanne, leaving them free to experiment and tell Marazzi from their point of view,’ says Mauro Vandini, CEO Marazzi Group.

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© Gianni Berengo Gardin and Marazzi Group

A priceless heritage

An exhibition that offers the opportunity to rediscover the emotion in these 42 shots taken by Gianni Berengo Gardin: the factory of the time, that aptitude for experimentation that Marazzi has continued to cultivate over time, flanking research into new products and processes with the promotion of different, personal, auteur readings of ceramics and work, which today represent a priceless heritage, accumulated over 90 years of history, an inexhaustible source of inspiration.

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© Gianni Berengo Gardin and Marazzi Group

The exhibition is accompanied by the catalogue ‘Gianni Berengo Gardin Marazzi, le linee veloci’ published by Marazzi Group and Contrasto, with texts by Alessandra Mauro and Gianni Berengo Gardin.

All photos © Gianni Berengo Gardin and Marazzi Group - For the installations: © Simone Falso Courtesy Marazzi Group

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