Davide Groppi’s installation Buio for Fuorisalone during Milan Design Week 2021 took darkness as its starting point. Putting aside the commercial aspect of Salone del Mobile allowed Groppi to approach the project with a sense of playfulness and exploration. The designer punctuated the labyrinthian exhibition with delicate light sculptures “The creations appear as distant glimmers in total darkness, feeble presences in an absolute black setting. They are works of free fantasy, negations of functionality and rationality, contradictions, allegories, utopias.” Each of the seven works allowed Groppi to explore his connection and reverence for a broad range of artists and musicians, from Alexander Calder to John Cage with great poetic effect.

List of works with accompanying text by Davide Groppi

1. Fireflies “This utopia is dedicated to Ingo Maurer. I tried to bring Ingo’s imagination to life by celebrating all of his poetic lightness.”
2. Notte Africana “The poetics of Fausto Melotti in this lightweight utopia of light.”
3. Dancing in the dark “The synthesis of Alexander Calder acrobatics. Diffused light and reflected light.”
4. Millepiedi “In this utopia nothing is drawn. Simple aggregation of electrical parts available on the market. A small ready-made, almost a declaration of non-proliferation of forms. Thank you, Achille.”
5. Silenzio. 4’ 33” “The celebration of the silence of John Cage. The perception of the light source is cancelled out in favour of a light suspended in the void. Once again, a work on absolute light.”