Alice Rawsthorn, foto di Michael Leckie; Courtesy Ludovico Einaudi
Ludovico Einaudi on Gae Aulenti and Performance
July 18 2024
Gae Aulenti's Legacy – episode 4
The exhibition Gae Aulenti (1927 – 2012) is accompanied by a podcast series that explores her impact on architecture and design, and her legacy. The podcast, hosted by British design critic and author, Alice Rawsthorn, traces the evolution of Gae Aulenti through the voices of friends, curators and international architects who knew her personally or through her work. The five episodes focus on different aspects of her relationship with architecture, design, art and performance during the course of her career.
The fourth episode—Ludovico Einaudi on Gae Aulenti and Performance—features Alice Rawsthorn in dialogue with pianist and composer Ludovico Einaudi, who had the opportunity to work with Gae early in his career, as an assistant on one of Luciano Berio's works for which the architect had created the set design. They talk about designing sets for plays, Aulenti's passion and aptitude, and one of her "light sculptures," the Giova lamp.
Elektra, foto di Lelli e Masotti © Teatro alla Scala
Installation view of the exhibition Gae Aulenti (1927-2012): Milan, at Teatro alla Scala, during Elektra by Richard Strauss, conducted by Giuseppe Sinopoli and directed by Luca Ronconi, 1994, photo by Alessandro Saletta, DSL Studio © Triennale Milano
What links the sets I saw was a very interesting engineering and construction approach. You could recognize that there was an architectural method in the design.
Ludovico Einaudi
Lampada Giova, courtesy Archivio Gae Aulenti
Pianist and composer Ludovico Einaudi (Turin, 1955) graduated from the Milan Conservatory of Music with Azio Corghi, later specializing with Luciano Berio, whose assistant he became, and with Karlheinz Stockhausen. He began his career as a classical composer, later embodying other styles and genres, including pop, rock, world music and popular music. He composed music for ballet, film, and theater, such as Sul filo d'Orfeo (1984), The wild man (1991), and several works for orchestra and ensemble that were performed at La Scala in Milan, Ircam in Paris, and Lincoln Center in New York. Over time he has composed soundtracks for numerous films and trailers.
Alice Rawsthorn—born in Manchester and based in London—is an award-winning design critic and author of books on design, including Hello World: Where Design Meets Life, Design as an Attitude and, most recently, Design Emergency: Building a Better Future. She is a co-founder with Paola Antonelli of the Design Emergency project to investigate design's role as a force for positive change. In all her work, Alice champions design's potential to address complex social, political and ecological challenges.
Credits
Hosted by: Alice Rawsthorn
Recording and sound editing: 731 Lab
Produced by: Triennale Milano
On the occasion of the exhibition: Gae Aulenti (1927-2012)
