Casa Cavazzini
via Cavour 14 Udine
7 December 2023 - 5 May 2024
The exhibition Gino Valle. Profession as Continuous Experimentation, curated by Francesca Albani and Franz Graf, in collaboration with the Studio Valle Archive of Udine, with the patronage of the Academy of Mendrisio, the Order of Architects Planners Landscapers and Conservators of the Province of Udine, Confindustria and technical sponsor Fantoni, is the first outcome of an international research project aimed at a thematic reinterpretation of Gino Valle's activity between the 1950s and the early 1980s.
The intense activity of Gino, an architect from Udine born in 1923, whose 100th birthday is being celebrated this year, is widely known, but until now many nuances have remained under the radar. These concern the collective aspect of his work within the Studio and his deep involvement in the social, architectural and cultural debate of the time, to which he always gave a personal and original response. The selection of works proposed in the exhibition is intended to be representative of this collective work over a wide time span, from Gino's graduation thesis in 1948 to the 1980s, and of the breadth of the themes addressed both in his homeland, Friuli, and in different parts of Italy and the world. Gino Valle's architectural production is the result of many stimuli, from the architectural and cultural ones of the working group within the studio, to those derived from the different social contexts in which he operated. Many were the stimuli coming from clients or from the topicality of the issues under discussion, as well as from the specific conditions of the different assignments.
The great built heritage that Gino Valle has left us, extremely articulated and anchored to the places and time in which it was produced, represents an important testimony not only of the activity of one of the most multifaceted and refined designers of the second half of the 20th century, but also of the society whose cultural, economic and political instances he produced. Re-reading today the work of one of the architecture studios that continuously produced some of the most relevant works of the time, interpreting from time to time the different cultural and social instances, must lead to the awareness that their permanence represents an important moment within Italian culture and a vital presence for the contemporary multi-layered city.