futurBella

The exhibition conceived and curated by Raffaele Curi for rhinoceros, the spectacular building in the heart of Rome designed by Jean Nouvel for Alda Fendi, is a poetic and evocative homage to Futurism and to one of its most brilliant and multifaceted personalities, the painter, sculptor, illustrator, set and costume designer Fortunato Depero.

The exhibition spans the six floors of the building and opens with reproductions of the iconic Campari Soda bottle, designed by Depero in 1932, while posters of his numerous advertising campaigns are projected in the inner courtyard. A videowall shows the reconstruction and staging (in 2009) of Plastic Dances, one of the first experiments in avant-garde theatre with automata, born from Depero’s collaboration with Gilbert Clavel: four of the puppets that replaced the dancers on stage, now part of the Mart Museum collection, are exhibited on the third floor.

As a tribute to artistic versatility, the exhibition pays homage to the costumes of Yorgos Lanthimos’ film “Poor Things”, which Holly Waddington, this year's winner of the Academy Award for Best Costume Design for the film, created inspired by the aesthetics of Futurism, as well as Schiaparelli and futurist Courrèges. Shots by set photographer Atsushi Nishijima, with the soundtrack of Poor Creatures playing in the background, are displayed along the route.

To admire evocative installation by Raffaele Curi, also inspired by Futurism, visitors have to lift their gaze upwards. Suspended in the air, hanging from the ceiling are 60 pairs of vintage knickers, the same ones worn by women like Bella Baxter (the role that won Emma Stone the 2024 Oscar in Lanthimos’ film) who lived between the Victorian age and the beginnings of Futurism, born in 1909 in Paris with the publication of the Futurist Manifesto in the newspaper Le Figaro.