Word: speeded
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...exploit its creative talent to the full. Iconic designs include the Cisitalia 202 Gran Sport, a 1947 automobile whose svelte curves were emblematic of the epoch's streamlined aesthetic; and Piaggia's Vespa 150 GS, similar to the one ridden by Audrey Hepburn in the 1953 film Roman Holiday. Speed also played its part in the golden age of Italian cinema; witness the Lancia Spider that homegrown idol Vittorio Gassman drove in Il Sorpasso, a 1962 road movie dripping with dolce vita style...
...When it reaches the 1960s, the show grows patchier. Italian design was stellar during this era, but speed-related examples are scarce. A 1969 Olivetti typewriter symbolizes what qualified then for a new-found velocity in communications, while minidresses from Emilio Pucci and Missoni sneak into the show on the dubious grounds of their swerving, abstract patterns. A room dedicated to the flashing graphics of the 1960s Kinetic Art movement serves only to remind us that its finest exponents - Jean Tinguely and Alexander Calder - came from elsewhere...
...Italy of the '70s and '80s seems to have offered even less in the way of speed, unless the turnover rate of its governments counts. By showcasing the equipment used by Carlo Rubbia, the exhibition provides an interesting - though less than pertinent - reminder that Italy has produced a Nobel-winning particle physicist. And the bulky fax machines, computers and cell phones featured from the 1980s seem largely irrelevant...
...fascinating as the show is, the concept of speed ultimately loses momentum. Small wonder, perhaps, given that the two most important Italian art movements of the second half of the 20th century, Arte Povera and Transavanguardia, were the antithesis of all things speedy: the former championed the use of humble, often recycled materials while the latter marked a return to painting after it fell out of fashion during the postmodern art movements of the '60s and '70s. And surely it is no mere cultural accident that Italy's biggest recent contribution to the international Zeitgeist is Carlo Petrini's Slow...
...exhibition's final section, "1990-2010, the Speed of the Future," showcases little more than a handful of high-end cars, a project for an Internet network that will operate like an omniscient global calculator, an advanced radar satellite technology and a simulator for Italy's high-speed train. Seen alongside the wealth of objects from previous decades, this is a deflating measure of Italy's uninspiring present tense. Yet the very success of the Palazzo delle Esposizioni, which is rapidly building a reputation for thoughtfully curated exhibitions, is cause for good cheer - as this exhibition shows, Italy may have...