Photo credit: Janet Donovan
“I think I spoke way more than I usually do at dinners like this,” said Claudio Bisogniero at a seated dinner at Firenze House, “but I really have to explain what this is all about.” The Ambassador of Italy then went on to describe “Introducing the XXI ‘Triennale’ International Exhibition Milan 2016: 21st Century, Design after Design,” a new international exhibition that will open the door to the 21st session on April 2nd in the traditional and historic location of Milan’s Palazzo dell’Arte that will last until the 12th of September. “This will be truly the hub of a dialog and discussion on many, many multi-disciplinary events, exhibitions, conferences, performances, training and even summer schools.”
“The 21st international exhibition will take place just a few months after the resounding success of another event you may heard about – Expo Milan 2015,” he added. “It was just closed a few months ago – 22 million visitors by the way. Like the Expo, the Triennale is a not to be missed event, and what better place than Italy to meet and to enjoy art, design, and discuss the very essence and the transformation that you can experience – not that you really need another reason to visit Italy.”
Ambassador Claudio Bisogniero
Ambassador Bisogniero went on to site several important events: “Let me mention just 2 or 3 of them,” he said. “There will be the World Design Week Summit on April 14th; The International Biennial Association, IBA’s 3rd general assembly, in late May, early June, with people like contemporary social-cultural anthropologist Arjun Appadurai, Canadian Designer Bruce Mau and Director of The Doors of Perception John Thackara. Another event will be in September called Theatrum Mundi, Theater of the World, a 3 day event on art performance and the city with a public conference and the likes of Brian Eno, an English musician, composer, record producer, singer, and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music; and Richard Sennett, Centennial Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and University Professor of the Humanities at New York University. As you can see it’s going to be truly an integrated approach involving design, involving art, technology, entertainment, anthropology, and this will enable participants to creatively interact with visitors. Who will be the participants? Participants will be nations, regions, cities, municipalities, the world of academia, young professionals and companies from all over the world. I know there is a lot of creativity around this particular table, and you can help pave the way to bring technology, art, modernity and tradition to the summit.“
Kandie Stroud, Laura Denise Bisogniero and architect Darryl Carter
Creative guests included Chase Rynd, Exec. Director of The National Building Museum; Katherine Wat, Curator, National Museum of Women in the Arts; Lawrence Hyman, Manger of Exhibitions and Curatorial Planning at The Hirshhorn Museum; architects Ruth and Simon Jacobsen, Suzane Reatig, Mark McInturff, Donald Murphy, and Robb Henderer.
“As you can imagine, we are particularly excited about this event. It is an ambitious program that encompasses many complex themes and since we have many professionals in the room, I am sure you will understand these arguments, these themes. One of the themes will be from increasing the intersection between design, architecture, communication and visual arts to a strategic role that design has acquired in contemporary economy, the world’s economy. Themes are from the design skills in different countries, to the democratization of the role of designers. Design is no longer the exclusive domain of the elites as we know and will be a true catalyst for international creativity. We wanted you to know more about this exciting opportunity which so often in the past has literally made history in design and in architecture. Don’t miss out, Milan is definitely the place to be starting April the 2nd until September. We’re now going to turn to another aspect of Italian excellence, and this is the great tradition of Italian cuisine, which is created especially for you tonight by our great chef Roberto. Buon appetito.”
Buon appetito included Cannelloni, Arrosto al manzo, Vegetali di stagione, Semifreddo al torroncino accompanied by Chianti Reserva and Prosecco.
Laura Denise invited guests to learn more about the rare Aeolian Organ, no. 1569, located above the Great Hall of Villa Firenze and one of the most important pieces in the residence. The rare pipe organ was built in 1925 by the Aeolian Company in New York for Colonel Arthur O’Brien. The organ’s pipes, originally covered in gold, were renovated in lighter tones of silver. We were surprised to learn it can be played either by an automatic machine called “Duo-Art” contained within the console or manually by an organist. The automatic player uses a perforated paper roll to activate the notes and stops. The library of rolls is large and quite varied with orchestral versions of traditional musical scores being the most prevalent. Although the main body of the organ is located in the Great Hall, the blower which provides wind for the instrument is located in the basement – so yes, curious guests went down to see it.
When the Government of Italy purchased Villa Firenze in 1976, the organ was not working. There had been a fire in the house in the winter of 1946 and while it was not a devastating event, the organ was significantly damaged by water and smoke and the repairs were far short of the necessary. The organ’s many pipes had fallen over, mechanisms in the organ no longer worked, and many parts were broken. Subsequent renovations in the building cut off the electric supply to the blower motor and generators.
“Miraculously, all the pipes were still present and the console still had all its original player mechanism and other systems in its interior. About 60 years of dust and reconstruction dirt had settled in the organ chamber, leaving it quite filthy. On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy and of the celebrations of this milestone in the United States, the organ was brought back to working order thanks to the invaluable support of the Italian company SISAL S.p.A. Part of the restoration effort consisted in a thorough cleaning which involved completely dismantling the entire organ and console down to the last screw. Every piece of leather, every piece of electrical wiring, every one of the over 1000 pipes needed cleaning, repairing, or replacing.Eight people in all, technicians, electricians, and pipe-makers, worked on various aspects of the project. As David M. Storey, the organ builder who carried out the restoration said, the restoration was partially a work of discovery since there was no documentation anywhere about how the organ was supposed to work. The restoration effort started in July 2011 and was completed in October 2012,” according to the History of Firenze House
It wasn’t until recently though that a secret room was discovered hidden behind the instrument wall. No one seems to know what the purpose of the room was but we’re guessing a hiding place….. think Panic Room with Jodi Foster 2002.
