Page 44 - Studio International - October 1970

1932 'a Japanese juggler.'
series, evolved over the years from 1949, is
1933 'in going beyond painting Munari has the elimination of the confusion latent in the
invented a machine for contemplation, exhi- concept of the static background with super-
bited at the Futurist exhibition in the Galleria imposed abstract areas. In the Negative-
Pesaro, Milan.' Positives all colour areas are projected as
1934 'With his work entitled Useless Machines, equally important, like the squares of a chess-
Munari has created an "Art Machine" as board, setting up an optical effect of floating
opposed to a "Science Machine".' chromatic movement between the object and
Amidst the severe art of Fascism, and the the spectator. In the children's books, to
heaviness of Carrà, Sironi, and De Chirico, which he has devoted much time since 1944,
Munari's works either caused confusion, or this formal simplicity, combined with visual
were seen as nothing more than toys, and punning, is designed to spark off a question-
relegated to the nursery. ing of reality. Those for adults—the illegible
The Useless Machines were conceived as an books—are rendered unusable as books. Built
attempt to liberate abstract forms from their up of paper borders round a hole, or pages
static position in the abstract painting of the bound together by a thread, they question
thirties, by suspending them in such a way the validity both of the concept of the book
that they came alive in human environments and of the printed word.
and were sensitive to the atmosphere of In 1952 (the same year as Tinguely's `Meta-
reality. They were light, made of matte- mechanism) Munari constructed the Arhythmic
painted cardboard shapes, the odd piece of Proof. This was to obtain an irregular effect
blown glass, held together by fragile wood from the regular movement of a spring mech-
rods and suspended on silk thread in har- anism. The spring is explicable in terms of
monic and precise mathematical relation- Munari's tendency to make use of materials
ships. Since no two sides of any shape were to hand, rather than seeking them out. This
identical, the compositional range was con- irregularity is caused by two steel wires on
siderable. Whereas Calder's mobiles, also which two discs vibrate, leaving after-images
evolved at this time, derive from natural in space. Perhaps this resolved the problem as
forms (trees, etc.), Munari's depart from far as he was concerned, for he never followed
wholly abstract principles, and it is their it up. Instead, in 1954, he started on a series
suspended movement that animates them. of fountains, first for the Venice Biennale,
Being of much lighter material than Calder's then in 1961 for the Milan Fair, and in 1965
metal shapes they were more responsive to for his one-man exhibition in Tokyo. Each of
the human movements and currents of air these was a completely different concept of
around them, thus creating a poetic relation- the fountain, conditioned by the three differ-
ship with the inhabited environment. They ent environments. (This refusal to continue a
were in no way to be confused with his earlier successful formula is typical, and is one of the
humorous machines—machines for wagging most admirable things about Munari.)
the tails of lazy dogs, for making hiccups The Venice fountain was a complex of in-
musical, etc., which were inspired by Rube clined metal and glass planes arranged so that
Goldberg. the water flowed down to finish its circuit
Though the belligerence of Futurism was through the bushes beneath, exploiting both
quite contrary to Munari's temperament, it the play of water reflected on glass, and the
was at that time the only lively movement in sound of it falling from one level to another.
Italy that could provide an outlet for his Through a small hole in the longest plane
own brand of quizzically punning humane falls a separate small trickle of water that sets
humour. This, coupled with his native in- off on its own private run, is reflected in a
genuity, characterizes all his subsequent work. window, and returns to the basin. The 1961
Ora X of 1945, for example (see Munari's Milan Fair fountain (4 metres in diameter)
text), was constructed from an alarm clock— was constructed of steel and transparent
the mechanism of its hands being used to coloured plastic in three separate cylinders.
rotate the celluloid elements, thus preserving The exterior cylinder consists of panels of
time-space associations whilst transforming neutral colours, pale and dark. Powered by
and questioning them. The same ingenuity an electric motor, it completes one revolution
converted an 80 cm. square of wire net into a a minute. One of the smaller interior cylinders
mobile that can be assembled in a number of in warm colours (reds, yellows, etc.) revolves
ways by joining its sides or corners in differ- by chance with the wind, whilst the other, in
ent positions, mathematically or by chance. cold blues and greens, is moved by a jet of
This was the Concave Convex of 1947, in which water. The combined chromatic effect is
the moire effect thrown in shadow on the wall projected by the sun on to the white sand
by the contorted net became as important as that surrounds the fountain. The Tokyo
the object itself. fountain of 1965 was acclaimed by the Japa-
Another constant feature of Munari's work nese as a profound embodiment of the spirit
has been his distinctive interpretation of the of Zen, with a simplicity, calmness and
Gestalt theory, which is apparent in his con- spiritual power rare in Western artists. The
cern with formal purity and clear design. basin is of white metal, with a layer of white
Thus the idea behind the Negative-Positive sand covered by 10 cm. of still water. From