A journey into the infinite potential of paper. At the Marcello Morandini Foundation, six international artists reveal the secrets of paper
We are in Italy, specifically in Varese, at the headquarters of the Marcello Morandini Foundation, a unique landmark for enthusiasts of concrete art, design, and architecture. Alongside the works and refined furnishings by Morandini, permanently displayed on the different floors of the villa, the Foundation hosts biannual exhibitions in its basement, featuring international artists, designed to engage in dialogue with the multifaceted geometries of the designer.
Until September 28, the Foundation is therefore hosting the temporary exhibition “Paper and Paper”, curated by Munich gallerist Renate Bender and Milan art critic Marco Meneguzzo.
Paper, an apparently simple yet extraordinarily rich material, is fragile and light, yet a custodian of memory. Upon it, signs, thoughts, and forms are traced, becoming expressions of continuous transformation. The exhibition was born from the intent to explore its artistic potential, bringing together six international artists who highlight its tactile, chromatic, and structural qualities through layering, incisions, and reliefs, employing creative tools such as drawing, ink, and graphite.
Six international artists reveal the secrets of paper
Among the artists involved, Helmut Dirnaichner uses natural materials such as earths, stones, and minerals — including azurite, malachite, and lapis lazuli — to create surfaces that change with light and perspective, establishing a dialogue with matter and the origins of painting. Franz Riedl chooses untreated papers, exploring their resistance and delicacy through cuts and folds that transform space into an abstract and architectural synthesis. Reinhard Wöllmer shapes objects of paper hammered on an anvil, with concave and convex forms that enhance touch and volume, making papier-mâché a living material. Rakuko Naito, a Japanese artist based in New York, investigates the relationship between full and empty, light and shadow: Washi paper is rolled, folded, torn, or layered, generating light textures and essential volumes. Grazia Varisco, with her “Extra-pages” cycle begun in the 1970s, works on the anomalies of standardized books, transforming folds, misalignments, and geometries into works that break codified order and open form to chance and interpretive freedom; finally, Bruno Munari considers paper an autonomous creative medium: for him, it is sculpture, book, work in itself, a humble material that becomes the protagonist through an innovative and experimental approach.
And it is precisely while commenting on the work of Bruno Munari (Italy, 1907–1998) that critic Marco Meneguzzo expresses a thought connecting with paper: “In Bruno Munari’s work, paper is everywhere,” says Meneguzzo. “Munari goes beyond the simple use of the material: paper becomes an active tool of creation, capable of transforming itself into sculpture, book, or unique work, with the ductility and humility of a material that manages to be at once precious and disposable.”
2The exhibition also includes a Focus-on dedicated to Varese photographer Alberto Bortoluzzi, who between March 29 and mid-July explored the relationship between origami, geometry, and nature. Subsequently, from July 15 to September 28, the site-specific installation by Turkish artist Şakir Gökçebağ will further enrich the exhibition experience on the theme of paper.
Throughout the exhibition period, meetings and dialogues with the artists are scheduled, offering the public precious and unique opportunities for direct exchange with the creators of the works.
A few words about the Marcello Morandini Foundation
A visit to the Morandini Foundation is worth a trip to Varese in itself. In the heart of the city, located in Northern Italy, within a refined Liberty-style villa, stands the Marcello Morandini Foundation, a unique space where art, design, and architecture intertwine. Founded in 2016 at the will of the artist and with the support of two collectors, the Foundation aims to preserve and enhance Morandini’s work, but also to become an open, inclusive cultural hub capable of engaging with the local area.
Since 2024, the Foundation has been officially recognized as a museum by the Lombardy Region. Its headquarters, Villa Zanotti, is not just a container, but a work within a work: the spaces are designed to host temporary exhibitions, workshops, conferences, and, on the upper floors, the permanent collection alongside international exhibitions and cultural events. On the top floor are the artist’s studio and archive, guardians of a creative journey unfolding between rigor and poetry.
Outside, the park of over three thousand square meters transforms into an environmental installation: among the trees stand one hundred white metal rings that embrace them as signs of cohesion and uniqueness—a powerful symbol of dialogue between nature and form, between art and life.
The Foundation is not only a place of conservation, but a living laboratory of ideas. Alongside exhibitions dedicated to concrete art and constructivism—movements that Morandini interprets with unmistakable essentiality—educational and social projects are created that testify to how art can be a tool for well-being. Among them, “Art Memories”, designed for people with neurocognitive disorders, uses the evocative power of forms and colors to stimulate memory, emotions, and relationships: a true meeting point between creativity, innovation, and inclusion.