| Abstrakt: |
In Italy in the first half of the XX Century, the issue of the kitchen, in terms of technique and aesthetics, seemed to be a good subject for debate, at least in the world of architecture through specialized magazines. The aspect of the kitchen as a "political" space in which social roles among sexes are determined is less well addressed. Men/ women, public space/private space, production/reproduction (in terms of nutrition, for example): these are concepts and dichotomies that would only begin to interact and weave their problematic dialogue in our country in the 1960s, unfolding their conflicts in the following decades. However, it seems peculiar and extremely interesting to take a cue from this scenario, the one launched by Gio Ponti in the years between the two World Wars. In his design work, the theme of the kitchen and its functions and role in the domestic environment is much investigated, discussed and resolved. In the following paragraphs I will try to discuss how Ponti attempted to wrest the home - and the kitchen in particular - from the consecrated tradition of its spaces, placing it in the perspective of an instrument of "liberation", not so much of women from the yoke of patriarchy, but of the creativity and the imagination from the rigidity and schematic nature of German-style rationalism. All this happening in a very particular historical time, permeated by totalitarianism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
