Torino 2008 World Design Capital and the Museo Nazionale dell'Automobile "Carlo Biscaretti di Ruffia" present the exhibition 'Dream, cars of the future since 1950'
The history of cars in Torino has developed along two lines that in many cases have intersected, creating sparks and beneficial interactions that have brought the city and Piemonte unrivalled fame on the world stage.
While our region has been producing cars for a century, it has also fuelled hotbeds of creativity, craftsmanship and technology expressed in one-off vehicles and prototypes, first as a customised response to private customers and then as an instrument to certify the competency of studios and draw contracts from national and international manufacturers.
There are many powerful car districts in the world, in the United States, Japan, Korea, Germany or France but never has there been an entrepreneurial and socio-economic phenomenon as in Torino, so extensive, and complex, with a blend of skills that integrate and form consortia, generating creative proposals and production methods of great quality and competitiveness.
The analysis of "Dream" starts from the 1950s, that particular period for the Italian car industry which, recovering from the wounds of war, followed Ford's objective of cars for all, but remained strongly attracted by the appeal of unique models, the Dream Car as an explicit sign of optimism, a vision of a bright future, a sometimes naive concession to provocation and escapism.
Dream cars of the future since 1950
September 19 - December 28, 2008
Padiglione Giovanni Agnelli, Torino
All the brands and the great masters of the era, some who have disappeared, some forgotten, most not known to the younger public, offered their vision of pure beauty, free of the restrictive standards demanded by the production chain, seeking the style of the future society.
Legendary models were built by Fiat, by Lancia (in Milan by Alfa Romeo, Touring and Zagato) and the Bertone and Farina factories, and the Vignale, Ghia and Frua workshops. Full-spectrum designers and engineers like Mario Revelli di Beaumont and Dante Giacosa stand out.
The badges of Bertone, Pininfarina, Ghia and the freelance design community appeared on the bodywork of Ferrari and Maserati, the envy of the world, while the style centres of manufacturers, bodywork companies and independent service firms such as Italdesign Giugiaro and Mantovani, Coggiola and Fioravanti, grew with authoritative professionals: Giovanni Michelotti above all, Mario Boano, Aldo Sessano, Filippo Sapino, Tom Tjaarda, Franco Scaglione, Pio Manzù, Marcello Gandini, Paolo Martin, Lorenzo Ramaciotti, Walter De Silva.
From the mid 1970s, the car design centres initiated more practical research to tackle critical automotive issues, to adapt cars to needs for safety, reduction in pollution, eco-sustainability, and emancipation from petrol. This has led to research into electric vehicles, hybrid engines and ones driven by sources renewable in a plausible economic context.
The Dream continues to look to the future but has matured and been translated into concept; the proposals by creative designers should be read with closer attention as bearers of concrete signals, able to offer a perspective of continuity.
The well-lit arcades of Torino Esposizioni, designed by Piero Luigi Nervi , the home of the prestigious motor shows of the past, bring out the quality, force and physical presence of these dreams expressed in lines, masses and steel.
The central area of this extensive museum space (14,000 sq.m.) hosts selected masterpieces that bear witness to almost 60 years of research, surrounded by theme-based rooms. Over 50 prototypes are on show and there are 3 rooms for audiovisuals, including virtual reality presentations, to describe the design process from the first pencil stroke to approval and the start of industrialisation of the model.
