Perspectives

Preface

Design Destinations is an exhibition organized by MAXXI, the Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI Secolo, exploring themes of design journeys, destinations, and destinies, with a special focus on the experiences of designers themselves. Initially, the exhibition featured the work of seven Italian designers living between Italy and the Netherlands, showcasing a series of object-based reflections that mapped their personal experiences of cultural migration.

The project Perspectives presents two approaches to design that, while grounded in similar principles, reflect different spatial, cultural, and social contexts. The work draws a parallel between Italian and Dutch design by taking inspiration from predecessors in the arts, particularly the early Italian and Northern Renaissance periods. Painters like Giotto and Masaccio focused on the revival of classical antiquity, using linear perspective, proportion, and harmonic composition. In contrast, Flemish Northern Renaissance painters, such as Jan van Eyck, emphasized intricate detail, texture, and vibrant color. A prime example is van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait, where he breaks traditional composition by using a mirror to show the subjects’ reflection from behind, challenging classical conventions. This divergence in artistic forma mentis inspired the Perspectives series, which explores how perspective influences light diffusion through the use of mirrors, generating multiple vanishing points.

Design

The series employs an LED light system embedded within an assembly of regular and one-way mirrors to create lighting objects that amplify light across multiple vanishing points. In its unlit state, the mirrors act as regular reflective surfaces, fully reflecting the surrounding environment. However, once the light is turned on, one side of the one-way mirror becomes illuminated while the other remains dark, making the mirrors partially transparent and intensifying the light reflected between the inner surfaces.

One object in the series features light reflected across three converging mirrors, endlessly replicating its effect toward three distinct vanishing points. Another object emphasizes linear light diffusion, channeling the light in a single direction. Together, these works create an exploration of light and reflection, where perspective becomes both the subject and the medium.