The Shape of Time. Milan

Exhibition.
Environmental Graphics.
Lighting.

Museo Poldi Pezzoli. Milan / May 2021 / Museo Poldi Pezzoli

The setup designed for the exhibition “The Shape of time” enters the exhibition rooms at the first floor of the Poldi Pezzoli Museum by means of light interventions that trace periodic connection signs and encompass the pieces on display in a coral tale.
A warm hue of cinnabar red that refers back to the shade of Titian’s paintings serves as the common thread of the narration, characterizing the four exhibition rooms marked by a strong identity and placing the pieces selected by the curator in relation to one another, which range from the mechanic conception of the clock as an object to its more decorative function.
The exhibition setup therefore develops like a crescendo pathway that begins in the first room, which is dedicated to the measurement of time, and expands along the second room, which investigates the relationship between art and time. Here the cinnabar red creates a prominent and interpretative backdrop designed to host the works on display, including Titian’s famous painting “Allegory of Time Governed by Prudence”, which comes from the National Gallery in London and is a major focal point of reference for the entire guided route.
The pathway leads to the third room to reveal a copious and versatile collection of night clocks that were truly cutting-edge at the time in which they were designed.
In this space, delving into the liveliness of the Baroque period, the setup brings together the selection of the clocks on display, the Roman context and the affair involving Pope Alexander VII, thanks to whom night clocks were invented because of his insomnia, all in a single stage.
In the Portrait Gallery, a wide graphic plane referring to the famous colonnade by Bernini welcomes visitors into the embrace of a kind of amphitheatre, within which they find themselves immersed in the glorious atmosphere of Baroque Rome. Like actors arising from the stage, ten examples of night clocks are positioned on large steps at different heights, in dialogue with one another. On the one hand, the carefully calculated alternation of these different display levels aims to represent the decorative role embodied by the clocks in the interiors of the epoch, as veritable artworks. On the other hand, this arrangement develops an in-depth critical view by means of a parallel comparative reading of the selected objects on display. Visitors thus find themselves at the centre of an immersive narration, at the centre of truly evocative scenery.
In the last room, the darkness enveloping the space enhances the array of projection night clocks and emphasises the night effect that enables them to be read, creating a metaphysical atmosphere that evokes and encapsulates the rhythms and lifestyles of that time.
Completing the narration, an in-depth informative video is presented in the room opposite the Loggia. It illustrates the evolution of the measurement systems, from the most ancient and rudimentary to night clocks, true works of mechanic engineering and very best artistic handicraft that are able to dialogue with the iconography of “time”.

Photo by Leo Torri