Torino (Italy) – From now until November 23, 2008, the well-lit arcades of Padiglione Giovanni Agnelli di Torino Esposizioni will showcase a selection of over 50 car design masterpieces in the exhibition “Dream: The idea of future in Italian car design”. Related audiovisual material, including virtual reality presentations, will be shown in the three surrounding rooms to describe the design process from the first pencil stroke to the start of industrialisation of the model.
The conference hall of the exhibition will also host a sequence of meetings with acting companies and car designers, invited to illustrate their professional history and experience, especially to young people and car enthusiasts.
Background
The history of cars in Torino has brought the city and region of Piemonte unrivaled fame on the world stage.
While the region has been producing cars for a century, it has also fueled great creativity, craftsmanship and technology, expressed in one-off vehicles and prototypes, first as a customised response to private customers and then as an instrument to certify the competency of studios and draw contracts from national and international manufacturers.
The analysis of “Dream” starts from the 1950s, that particular period for the Italian car industry which, recovering from the wounds of war, followed Ford’s objective of cars for all, but remained strongly attracted by the appeal of unique models. The Dream Car was an explicit sign of optimism, a vision of a bright future, and a sometimes naive concession to provocation and escapism.
All the brands and the great masters of the era offered their vision of pure beauty, free of the restrictive standards demanded by the production chain, seeking the style of the future society.
From the mid 1970s, the car design centres initiated more practical research to tackle critical automotive issues, to adapt cars to needs for safety, reduction in pollution, eco-sustainability, and emancipation from petrol. This has led to research into electric vehicles, hybrid engines and ones driven by sources renewable in a plausible economic context.
The Dream continues to look to the future but has matured and been translated into concept; the proposals by creative designers should be read with closer attention as bearers of concrete signals, able to offer a perspective of continuity.
Event location
Padiglione Giovanni Agnelli di Torino Esposizioni
corso Massimo D’Azeglio, 15 Torino
Download the event invitation (PDF – 232KB)
For more information, please visit: www.torinoworlddesigncapital.it