EXHIBITION

Molto Bello

2024

VENUE

Heide Museum of Modern Art

YEAR

Molto Bello: Icons of Modern Italian Design is a new exhibition at Heide Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition showcases significant twentieth-century Italian design, spanning a sixty year period.

Studio Peter King was commissioned by Heide to create the exhibition design for Molto Bello. The first gallery is designed with a series of stepped trays, each holding a selection of furniture, objects and lighting, bringing them together to create dialogue between the individual works. The video below captures the installation of these works from the 1930s through to the 50s, combining furniture, lighting and graphic design from the Milan Triennial.

Throughout the exhibition, permutations of green, white and red interplay with reference to the Tricolour flag and celebrating Italian design.

In the second gallery, everything shifts up a gear. Celebrating the prowess of Italian industrial design, the centrepiece of this room is a fantastically red Fiat Nuova 500. Set against a clip from ‘Roman Holiday’, Audrey Hepburn’s iconic scooting scene is shown next door to a silvery Vespa 150. Flanked by chrome coffee machines and Castiglioni’s automotive inspired furniture - the mood is all about speed, style and shine.

Smaller anterooms within the exhibition present unique narratives - such as ‘la plastica fantastica’. The exhibition design again draws inspiration from the tricolour flag, but for this room the shades of green, white and red are bolder and more saturated, referencing interior design from the 60s, 70s and 80s from which this collection of works originated.

The final section of the exhibition explores the themes of radical design, the Memphis design movement and a solo study of the works of Gaetano Pesce. Drawing inspiration from Pesce’s ’Sunset in New York’ sofa that forms the centrepiece of this final room, an abstracted sunset is recreated through lighting and colour, celebrating the life and work of this designer.

Client: Heide Museum of Modern Art
Curated by: Kendrah Morgan and Laura Lantieri
Exhibition Design: @studiopeterking
Graphic Design: @mtgibb
Build: @bri-scales and @ac.grassy
Painting: @flys_alone_painting
Lighting: @megslighting
Halo Edition Lamp courtesy of: @sld_australia
Graphics: @decentlyexposed

Photos by: Christian Capurro and Clytie Meredith

It’s clear right off the bat that the Heide Museum of Modern Art has pulled out all the stops for Molto Bello: Icons of Modern Italian Design, an exhibition that refreshingly alters the gallery space with a clear vision and stunning execution.

A red-trimmed corridor leads visitors right into the heart of the gallery, where an equally cherry-toned Fiat 500 captures the stylish flamboyant spirit of the post-war era.

While there is no lack of colour in Molto Bello, the room featuring pieces by the late design pioneer Gaetano Pesce and the hues of green in the section ‘La Plastica Fantastica’ have harnessed it to perfection.

If you only have the appetite for one design exhibition this summer, make sure it’s Molto Bello.

—EDIT FROM ARTShub Review by Celina Lei
21 NOVEMBER 2024

In the museum’s main galleries, the exhibition design by Melbourne-based practice Studio Peter King, draws inspiration from Italian architecture and classic interior design motifs, guiding the audience through the trajectory of modern Italian design and its enduring impact. In Heide Modern – the former residence designed by architect David McGlashan – furniture from the 1960s and 1970s will be arranged in the living spaces, speaking to the function of each room and reflecting the period in which the house was built.