Experimental Growth will be Levy’s first solo show in Italy and a significant addition to the Foundation’s permanent collection, where it will live on.

The exhibition will include videos and sketches that show the development of the work — a continuation of Levy’s exploration of, and fascination with, craters, rock sculptures and rockgrowths.

Inaugurated on June 7 with the exhibition John Pawson - Plain Space, the Bisazza Foundation is a new, cultural entity in constant interaction with distinguished international institutions. The Foundation serves as a landmark in Italy thanks to a program of events and initiatives showcasing international talent. The objective of the Bisazza Foundation is to provide the public with an opportunity to discover the thought processes and work of leading figures in design and contemporary architecture, through remarkable exhibitions. With this specific aim, the Bisazza Foundation continues its mission to showcase international designers and exceptional exhibitions by displaying the works of Arik Levy for the second event of the year.

Levy’s talents extend across several disciplines: artist, technician, photographer, designer, and director. Levy’s work is admired in some of the foremost galleries and museums around the world, including the Georges Pompidou Centre in Paris, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, and the Art Institute in Chicago. Celebrated by the public for his geometrical and sleek sculptures, his installations, his limited editions and his design, Levy loves recalling that “the world is about people, not things.”

Arik Levy’s project for the Foundation centers around Rock Chamber, a sculptural work that will become part of the permanent collection. The sculpture will be located in a space conceived and designed by the artist himself. For the first time since the opening of the Bisazza Foundation, an artist will not only put his name to an installation for the Foundation, but his project will also affect the very architecture of the space.

The site-specific work entitled Rock Chamber, as described by Arik Levy: “This opus marks a transition towards monumental and functional sculpture on a large scale. Rock Chamber will be covered with mosaic tiles and will give the impression of a carbonized meteorite, which has passed through the atmosphere and arrived on the Earth. We are the prehistoric men of the future and this is our future cave.”

In the new hall dedicated to and designed by Levy, an installation will be staged through which Levy will trace the creative evolution of Rock Chamber and the geometrical aspect of its material through the projection of an original video.

The material’s raw aspect, its endless shaping possibilities and the fact that one cannot foresee what will come out of the oven, are what attracted Levy in working with it. The dialog Arik was able to establish with the ceramic expert who manufactured the WellOfLife pieces was an important part of the creation process.

The interaction between the material’s texture and the color, that becomes «liquid» when set in the light, makes each piece look as if it were in constant evolution.

What is your favorite example of great design?
A screw. It is an amazing design, utility and object. It is perfect in both its function and aesthetic.

What is the most memorable moment in your career as a designer?
Every time I give birth to a product. Seeing a product to completion is like giving birth to a baby. Every object has a moment of conception, a pregnancy and a birth. It’s always a process that is intensely gratifying in the end.

What is the most important factor that influences and/or inspires your design process?
Life. I design for people, and what I do is mainly a result of how people interact within their lives.

The exhibit, M+C / design 2008-2011 features work from Genevan gallery Gallery Mitterrrand + Cramer by Maarten Baas, Tom Dixon, Studio Job, Arik Levy, Studio Makkink & Bey and Atelier Oï.

Levy’s project pays conceptual homage to “Powers of Ten,” the film by Charles and Ray Eames that investigates the idea of scale from microscopic to infinite through the power of ten. Says Levy, “I was looking to give ten different expressions to the same piece. So ‘in power 10’ is a state of mind, is a moment of motivation, dynamics and creativity.” The installation consists of ten versions of Quake, transformed by the powers of ten: lit by ten light bulbs, painted ten colors, numbered ten, weighted by ten times, wrapped with 100 meters of electrical cord, cut into ten pieces, covered with 100,000 staples, struck with 10,000 nails, supported with ten sticks, and pierced by 100 arrows. Levy adds, “I wanted to use and work with the multiplier of ten and use the table as a raw material to work with and transform into something else. Do to it what I never dared doing.”

Says Levy:

Structures project is an expression of interior and exterior relationships… just like we go in and out from the outside again being supported by structures and systems. This bathroom furniture collection allows this experience. The storage elements are locked into a structure that keeps it all together, creates a space to hang the towels giving a generous appearance of the all the pieces and an elevated presence to the furniture.