top of page

CATADORES DE LIXIO (2006)

light installation dimensions: 250x45 cm (hxd)

TRIBUTE TO THE BRAZILIAN CATADORES AND THE ARGENTINIAN CARTONEROS

It is an ironic comparison between CAIFA, a beautiful and very expensive chandelier with pure crystal pendants in a Bohemia-cut octagonal shape, proposed by two famous Milanese designers: Lolli and Memmoli, and my installation which copies its shape but uses materials destined for landfill: broken glass, burnt out light bulbs, scraps of plastic and metal, leftovers from old sweaters.

An integral part of the work is the parallel interview with CAIFA and CATADORES DE LIXIO, which in Portuguese means GARBAGE COLLECTORS, the ' catadores ', a crowd of miserable people repressed and marginalized by society. The paradox is highlighted between the poverty and the many pilgrims in search of fortune who then end up living on the edges of Latin American landfills, sifting through the garbage in search of paper, cans, plastic or any other good to resell. and Contemporary luxury which is no longer just the opulence of material display but also the delicacy of immaterial emotion, which takes on the forms of the "beautiful and well made" of Made in Italy. The world of luxury goods is an extreme field of design, like space, the ice of the Pole, the seabed, Everest, where man is allowed to experiment with very particular conditions. But also time is an extreme luxury: time cannot be purchased with money: “time is money” but “money is not time”.. and luxury is also the time that I was able to dedicate to the creation of this work. ..here we arrive at the paradox .

PARALLEL INTERVIEW WITH:

CAIFA LAMP

CATADORES DE LIXIO

catadores padova_1.jpg

name: CATADORES DE LIXO

 

parents: I only have my mother: Raffaella Bandera,

 

date of birth: May 2006

 

what are you made of? : of materials destined for landfill but never getting there... thanks to my mother!!! copper, broken glass, burnt out light bulbs, coffee sticks, plastic bottles, metal scraps...

 

What would your parents have wanted for you? .. my mother poured great ambitions on me... she dreamed that I would denounce the contradictions between the growing technical-scientific progress, which in theory could allow the entire human race to live much better (UTOPIA?), and the reality of the terrible conditions in which a part of humanity lives.

how you feel: beautiful, harmonious, graceful, pleasant, flexible, open to new additions

as you can see CAIFA: I admire its harmony, its shine and transparency, its fascinating brilliance...tiara of an unattainable princess, I definitely felt a bit of envy for its perfection.. but then I also see it as excessive.. exhibitionist: "too much" for us, for our homes, for our daily lives... I am more adaptable, witty.. accessible and... I too am no less spectacular than CAIFA! And then, as I was saying, open to new additions: a broken glass in a recent toast, a light bulb that just burned out... I'm a work in progress... neverending.

do you feel like a status symbol? old term! but is it still in fashion? I prefer to say that I exhibit the privilege of time, the result of a conscious choice to the detriment of other material goods. For example, the time that my mother dedicated to me in the act of creating me, drawing pleasure, beauty and enjoyment from it. Time is an extreme luxury : time cannot be purchased with money: “time is money” but “money is not time”.

Rather, I represent the paradox , the contradiction: my narcissism, my competitiveness and the pleasure I feel in showing off, in being here, seem to deny my origins: the world of recyclers who stimulated my conception...and yet it's not like that... they are two sides of the same coin: I represent the impossibility of reaching the truth and the absolute certainty of things... and as if to confirm this, the daily difficulties that in the end my mother also finds herself facing: also I'm for sale.. for a few hundred euros!

CAIFA 2.jpg

name: CAIFA LAMP

 

 

parents: Lolli and Memmoli, two established Milanese designers

 

 

date of birth: year 2003

 

 

what are you made of? my structure is metal and supports pendants of pure Italian crystal in an octagonal Bohemia cut shape, the final pendants are of various shapes and sizes.

 

 

What would your parents have wanted for you? they  want me to be an icon of innovation and Italian design, of excellence, of beauty and of the "well done" of Made in Italy, ..in short, they  want me, together with other high-end Italian products, to be recognized the merit of having contributed to the extreme attempt to maintain in Europe the key phase of value creation and the management of economic processes with the highest added value.

 

 

how do you feel: I feel beautiful, harmonious, graceful, pleasant... and above all fully included in the panorama of international contemporary design!

 

 

And what do you think of CATADORES DE LIXO?: I've never seen it around... in the environments that count at least, in the "parlor"... as far as I can see now... it copied my shape a bit, but it turned out to be too ethereal, inconsistent, and then, its materials!!! even if "nicely ecological" they are of poor quality..and the social message it wants to give..is not at all original.. hackneyed!! nor, in the end, conceptually honest... just a way to get noticed! (and I honestly think it really needs it!); it certainly deserves recognition for the fact that it is a unique piece "self-produced" by an artist-designer,

do you feel like a status symbol? more than feeling, I actually am a status symbol! I was created for this purpose: in fact I am on sale for more than 5000 euros! who owns me and can experience the true pleasure of standing out: I am able to provide extreme self-satisfaction to those who exhibit me!

ccc

 

CONTACT:   Tel: +39 329 277 53 82       raffa@raffaellabandera.it         21052 Busto Arsizio (VA)  -ITALY-

                                                    Privacy Policy

 
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
bottom of page