PIRELLI: THE TYRE AS ‘STREET ART’ IN THE 2014 ANNUAL REPORT
TYRES INTERPRETED BY THREE YOUNG ARTISTS IN A WORK OF ART ON SHOW AT HANGARBICOCCA ON 26, 27 AND 28 FEBRUARY
#TakePArt LETS VIEWERS SHARE IMAGES AND VIDEOS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
THE DIGITAL VERSION OF THE REPORT WILL ALSO CONTAIN VIDEOS ILLUSTRATING THE PROJECT
Street Art, with all its boundless creativity and unique forms, will bring to life the communication project that will be part of the Pirelli 2014 Annual Report.
The Brazilian artist Marina Zumi, the German Dome, and the Russian Alexey Luka, three of the most interesting names in the new world of Street Art, have interpreted the tyre, illustrating it in three works assembled into a single installation: a truncated pyramid, about five metres tall, with three sides each measuring over twenty square metres, will be on show from 26 to 28 February at HangarBicocca. The work takes up a tradition of communication that has become a hallmark of Pirelli corporate culture, and that has found here the ideal place for its creation.
For the first time in its history, Pirelli has chosen this particular form of expression because the street, mobility and multiculturalism, which are typical features of Street Art, are also part of its own culture. It is indeed in the streets and on the roads, and in the need for people to move, that tyres have their meaning.
Throughout its history, Pirelli has often illustrated tyres not just in terms of their function, but also by taking them out of their context and allowing them to evoke worlds, values, aspirations and dreams capable of giving a “rubber soul” to an object that, on the face of it, might appear to be no more than a round black object. A product that is actually anything but easy to make and that embodies technology and innovation – the outcome of the talent and passion of the people who make it.
This aspect has been highlighted by the work of countless artists, who, during the course of the twentieth century, turned tyres into a chain (Ezio Bonini), a lion and an elephant (Armando Testa), a sombrero (Alessandro Mendini), as well as an eye, an umbrella and a hat (Riccardo Manzi).
In more recent years, tyres have appeared as a shelter from the rain and as musical instruments and glasses for looking towards the future (Stefan Glerum). Today the tyre is continuing its journey and, through Street Art, has been turned into a moon by Marina Zumi, the protagonist of a gesture of love by Dome, and a bond between cultures by Alexey Luka.
In 2010 the Pirelli Report was embellished with images by photography students at NABA in Milan, in 2011 with illustrations by the illustrator Stefan Glerum and texts by the philosopher Hans Magnus Enzensberger and the writers Guillermo Martinez, William Least Heat-Moon and Javier Cercas; in 2012, in an edition that was awarded the “Certificate of Typographic Excellence” by the Type Directors Club in New York, with cartoons by Liza Donnelly, cartoonist with the New Yorker; lastly, in the 2013 Report, 10 young international talents, coordinated by the writer and scriptwriter Hanif Kureishi, worked on the concept of the wheel, each “reinventing” it through their own discipline.
In the 2014 Report, the work of the street artists will appear not just in the form of images, which will appear in the printed version, but also in a series of videos that, in the digital version, will narrate the project and its protagonists with a behind-the-scenes view of the how it was made, as well as the finished works.
“Street Art”, explains Christian Omodeo, an expert in the field and artistic creator of the project, “is often described as a new avant-garde, as a cohesive artistic movement and the expression of a unique, young, international culture. In actual fact, what makes Street Art so revolutionary is that it’s a multicultural community involved in a constant, daily interaction on the web between different visions of the world. Street artists don’t look to some global artistic standard, but rather adapt their artistic language to the geographic, cultural and social context in the city they happen to be in. At the same time, they don’t have a conventional relationship with their urban space. They go beyond the limits imposed by common sentiment, exploring forgotten areas of our cities and, unconsciously, bringing back to life those non-places that, according to the French sociologist Marc Augé, tend to make life in contemporary metropolises so alienating. This dynamism, energy and ability to bring things to life by drawing out a potential that most people fail to notice, is something I see clearly in the narrative skills of Pirelli, as well as in its approach to industry.”
Taking part in the presentation, together with the artists, were Marco Tronchetti Provera, Chairman and CEO of Pirelli, Antonio Calabrò, Senior Advisor Culture Pirelli, the art critic Achille Bonito Oliva, and Christian Omodeo, expert in Street Art and the artistic curator of the project.
The social-networking initiative – #TakePArt
For the occasion, Pirelli launched a social-networking initiative called #TakePArt. This campaign aims to involve visitors to HangarBicocca, inviting them to take photos of the work of the three street artists and to share them on social media using the hashtag #TakePArt. The most original shots will be published on Pirelli social-network channels. Because each individual vision is, in essence, a work of art.
Categories: Group Pirelli Sustainability