bruno munari:
revolutions of
the water mill:
PART 1
On iTunes · on spotify · transcript
EPISODE NOTES
In Bruno Munari's world, a book can be a sculpture, a toy, and an object. More, he thought that a magnolia could be an address, and a children's room an art gallery. Yet, a lamp ought not to be disguised as a bunch of grapes. Find out what shaped the beautiful mind of Bruno Munari in part 1 of this audio essay.
This essay is adapted from a talk I gave in the fall of 2023 for Italian Design Weeks at Emily Carr University, addressing Munari's Unreadable Books, his Useless Machines, his children's books, and his public art workshops.
Sources for this episode are at the bottom of this page. Corrections: I mistakenly called Marnie Campagnaro by the name ‘Marnie Campagnolo’’
more from me on munari
· video: “Little Green Riding Hood”
· audio: interview with Pietro Corraini
· audio: reading from Munari’s book Design as Art: “Childrens’ Books”
· audio part 2 of “Revolutions of the Water Mill”
images referenced
Water mill on the Adige, from Aldo Tanchis’ book on Munari
Two of Munari’s Useless Machines
Unreadable Book Six Lines in Movement (1958). This is a mock-up, unpublished.
The Pirelli toy Meo Romeo the cat, and a promotional publication for the toy
In the Darkness of the Night, Corraini Edizioni
Image of Nella Notte Buia’s black paper section with the peeking cat from Marnie Campagnaro’s “Materiality in Bruno Munari’s Book Objects”
Stills showing Nella Notte Buia from video lecture by Steven Guarnaccia for Center for Italian Modern Art, Facebook
Corraini’s Libro Illeggibile MN1 (1984), closed
Corraini’s Libro Illeggibile MN1, bound with knotted thread
sources for this episode
Sandra Beckett, Crossover Picture Books, Taylor & Francis, 2013
Marnie Campagnaro, “Materiality in Bruno Munari’s Book Objects: The Case of Nella notte buia and I Prelibri,” University of Padua, 2019
Claudio Cerritelli, Bruno Munari: Total Artist, Museo Ettore Fico, 2017
Alessandro Colizzi, “Bruno Munari and the invention of modern graphic design in Italy, 1928– 1945, 2011,” Leiden University
Corraini Edizioni & Istituto Italiano di Cultura Londra, “Play to Learn” podcast
Steven Guarnaccia, “Discover one of Bruno Munari’s masterpieces: ‘Nella notte buia’ (In the dark of the night),” Center For Italian Modern Art
Miroslava Hájek and Luca Zaffarano, Bruno Munari: My Futurist Past, Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art, Silvana Editoriale, 2012
Giorgio Maffei, Munari’s Books, Princeton Architectural Press, 2008
Bruno Munari, Design as Art, Penguin, 2019 (1966)
Aldo Tanchis, Bruno Munari: Design as Art, MIT Press, 1986