” Some have never been attracted to another person. Others have stopped early. Still others love but not make love. In an age where the libido is business and easily sells, its’ absence is considered a pathology. For an invisible minority sex it is as exciting as painting a ceiling white. ” …. Jean-Philippe de Tonnac, author of The ASexual Revolution
“ They tried to make me go to rehab but I said no, no, no ” …… Amy Winehouse
After Atelier Biagetti’s exhibition in 2015 — that explored our obsession with creating the perfect body in the gym — comes a slightly more confronting exhibit entitled ‘No Sex’.
Teaming up with curator Maria Cristina Didero once more, this year’s iterations continued in Alberto Biagetti and Laura Baldassari’s tradition of elevating the apparently mundane through the use of precious materials and exquisite craftsmanship.
Laura Baldassari, Maria Cristina Didero and Alberto Biagetti No Sex
Partners in work and life Alberto Biagetti and Laura Baldassari unabashedly dissect and expose their personal obsessions through performances and, being designers, via the creation of very peculiar products.
The two designers are storytellers, modern-day bards, interpreting and expressing the reality they perceive and, in this case, strip down and expose our relationship with that traditionally taboo subject of sex.
Alberto Biagetti and Laura Baldasarri
In this age where virtual sex is taking over from physical sex and the body is an object of ever more manipulation and excess, Biagetti and Baldassari created “No Sex”, a pink-clinic designed to re-establish the individual’s inner equilibrium regarding sex, in a transcendental and futuristic paradise of liberty and of clean, fresh unprejudiced equality.
In this “No Sex” pink-retreat (pink refers not only to the colour but also to a cosy yet entangling state of mind), the ultimate wellness clinic you pass through the entrance to find yourself in a place designed to detox or retox from the overdose or abstinence of sex in contemporary life.
In this place space-age forms and sensual tones of champagne-pink and natural skin are entwined with materials that invite the physical touch to create a cast of almost anthropomorphic beings.
We live our society lost between a fake virtual world and new illnesses, losing our natural and physical approach to our sex life.
For their “No Sex” project, they’ve created a pink clinic, a kinky yet sleek space where one-of-a-kind objects and furniture pieces tinged with a cybernetic, space-age feel can be tested by the public.
As the saying goes “sex sells”, so sex is everywhere. It is thrust upon us, before our eyes, in our ears and on our minds.
It is on our streets with ad campaigns and billboards and is available on demand on the T.V. or internet – anyone from a teenage schoolgirl to a President of the Republic can saturate their senses at the touch of a 4 inch screen.
Sex in itself has rules – to be obeyed or broken.
It is an act and the propaganda that revolves around it, to encourage it, warn against it, tell you how to do it…Have you done it? Do you do it? Did you do it? Don’t you do it…?
For some, or even for many, sex is an issue.
Atelier Biagetti invited people to take sanctuary from an over-sexualised world inside a surreal clinic featuring pastel pink furniture, clinical curtains and attendants in nurse’s outfits.
Kicking off the night was a one-off opening performance featuring hip twin sister duo Elena & Giulia Sella ( Architect & Interior designer at Designbythem )
For an added dose of fun, the Milanese studio started the party early on the 10th April, together with the next door neighbour shop “ LaDouble J” , and their maximalist ‘ Wunderwall ‘, with jewels from Anna Piaggi’s private collection and a selection of store wonders thrown in for good measure.
Opening Night Performance to launch the ” No Sex ” Exhibition
A procession of young nurses in white uniforms lead visitors from the courtyard into the conceptual clinic where the new reality is represented by objects created by Biagetti and Baldassari
The ” No Sex ” Exhibition
At the entrance the visitor will find an object able to summarize the concept behind this clinic: a luminous and cross-shaped mirror.
It is of great symbolic value piece, because it allows each visitor to “confront” immediately with himself.
Once inside, all of a sudden we find ourselves in a different world.
Elena & Giulia Sella
The environment is vague and weightless, colours recall the tones of our skins and the materials employed are sensual and soft leather, Indian rubber, and latex are able to reaffirm the relationship with our body.
The show exhibits a series of mirrors, lamps and accordion-like footstools in a setting that resemble a therapeutic clinic designed to offer “inner equilibrium regarding sex” – a safe haven from a hyper-sexualised world
No Sex Products
In this cybernetic undisclosed set, you will find a daybed, of doctor, beautician or masseuse, a post-ergonomic piece in pale leather and fine natural rubber for laying back and
All “No Sex” pieces are unique, some are one of a kind, some are numbered limited editions, and some are available in open edition, making the protagonists in this “No Sex” project representative of the whole spectrum of contemporary Italian production.
Each item is researched, designed and executed with the utmost attention to detail, a characteristic of the work of Biagetti and Baldassari and of the Italian master craftsmen with whom they always choose to work.
All the furniture pieces are hand-made and realized to stimulate our introspective thoughts.
Lamps have the curious shape of tropical birds and mirrors seem to be an invitation to face and live our desires and our fears.
The day-bed, the chairs, the stools and the footstools create a relaxing, timeless and spa-like environment.
The collection comprises
A day bed in clear and rubber skin thought for one person but large enough to accommodate two.
The “ No Sex “ exhibition marries the atmosphere of a Swiss medicinal retreat with the sexualised aesthetics of Barbarella, summed up best by a leather daybed that rests upon caterpillar treads designed to resemble nipples (a veritable tit-tank).
A standing lamp with a circular head of led lights with beak-like details is mounted on a jointed aluminium arm.
The lamp is accompanied by its non identical twin, similar in size and shape but with a subtle yet essential difference.
Some objects are heterozygous – similar in appearance but different in substance.
Behind a screen the stool and low backed chair scurry around on eight wheels apiece, pausing only for their leather accordion seats to sigh with every backside that rests on them.
And finally a floor mirror with letters engraved on the surface.
The seating elements are overlooked by a statuesque full-length mirror (complete with very personal touch)
This mirror takes inspiration from optometric boards, making us think about ourselves and our relationship with our body photo
Water lily-shaped table, made with platinum silicone.
The whole scene is illuminated by a chandelier made of led lights and filtered through a latex membrane latex.
The lamp is conceived to look like drapery, for a more intimate feeling
About Atelier Biagetti
Alberto Biagetti and Laura Baldassari draw their inspiration from the world around them, from human behaviour and the collective memory.
Like scientists they genetically modify the DNA of objects, creating associations that intern provoke a short-circuit between the body, the objects and the home as a potential stage where life is played out.
In 2015 they designed BODY BUILDING, a project that, curated by Maria Cristina Didero, attracted the attention of both the public and the international media.
Wallpaper Magazine dedicated the front cover of the May edition to the collection in which Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari centred their concept around some of the pieces.
BODY BUILDING was also selected to feature in a solo show at Design Miami in December 2015.
Alberto Biagetti
Born in Santarcangelo di Romagna in 1971
Alberto Biagetti lives and works in Milan.
In 1995 he started working in the architectural studio of Luca Scacchetti and the following year began a long collaboration with Alessandro Guerriero with whom he opened the studio Radiosity and the Futurarium school of radical design.
In 2000 he accepted the position of Creative Director of YOOX Group which he held for the following ten years.
In 2003 he opened Atelier Biagetti. In 2008 he started collaborating with Venini, one of the most important glass producers in the world designing lights, objects and the historic flagship store in Via Monte Napoleone in Milan.
In 2011 Biagetti designed I “Diamanti”, the first collection entirely produced by the Atelier;
In 2012 he designed the collection Post Design for Memphis-Milano.
In 2013 and 2014 he designed the collections “One Minute Ago” and Bonjour Milàn” with Laura Baldassari, both produced by Atelier Biagetti in collaboration with the Galerie Italienne, Paris.
Biagetti has designed interiors and installations for private clients, institutions and museums including the Triennale di Milano with the exhibitions “Dressing Ourselves” and “Workwear”, and for Musei Italiani with “Museo del Design 1880-1980”.
In 2015 he designed part of the London concept store LN-CC and the BODY BUILDING collection.
Laura Baldassari
Born in Ravenna in 1985
Laura Baldassari is an artist who lives and works in Milan.
Her approach is multidisciplinary and her work varies from formal painting to contemporary musical theatre, through opera to design.
She has worked with many galleries in Italy and abroad and her paintings have been exhibited in distinguished institutions including the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna, Centro d’Arte Contemporanea Castello di Rivara, Kulturforum in Herz Jesu and at the 54th Biennale di Venezia.
