FOYER-EXHIBITION

In the 1920s, brothers Camillo, Cezaro and Alfonso Bialetti produced household items in their workshops in northern Italy. Alfonso's son Renato took over the family business and industrialised in the early 1950s the production of espresso pots of which he sold around 300 million worldwide. The controversial entrepreneur kept making new copies of his product to beat the competition and showed little interest in keeping records, prototypes and other archival material. Faced with this gap, artist David Bergé set about collecting Bialetti pots in the vicinity of the former factory, at flea markets and in flagship stores.

In the form of a book, Bergé presented his idea of a possible Bialetti catalogue. It provides an insight into the fine-mechanical manufacturing processes, drawing on the voices of members of the industrialist family as well as those of former factory workers, secretaries and trade union representatives. Bialetti, an icon of the 20th century that is no longer present in every kitchen.

The artist David Bergé lives in Athens and Brussels. His works are invitations to the audience to participate in a journey in the form of hybrid and post-digital formats, silent "walk pieces", time-based installations and writing projects.

The publication David Bergé: Bialetti, A catalogue was presented in November at the GRASSI Museum für Angewandte Kunst. It was published by Spector books in Leipzig.