Achille Castiglioni RAI Pavilion

For the XLIII Fiera di Milano, this RAI pavilion was set up with modular elements that allowed, according to the client’s instructions, its use both indoors and outdoors.

The RAl gave the Castiglioni brothers instruction to create transformable containers, to host the showcases. On a surface of 36×11 meters stands a modular structure, with perimeter pillars and iron trusses, with a flat roof. The exhibition, designed in collaboration with Enzo Mari, leaves the pavilion totally open and the exhibition takes place in a plastic element suspended from cables. The horizontal channel with a square section presents the slogan. From this, five telescopes of the same section branch off to the top, each of which contains a representation of a theme accompanied by a sound commentary. The public is obliged to proceed in a row in the horizontal channel, looking inside telescopes illuminated by natural light coming from the transparent heads. This exhibition finds its natural form of spectacle in the presence of the public: in fact, the moving legs of the spectators create, under the horizontal channel, a sort of impression of a giant centipede.

“In the exhibition of the RAI programs” – Achille Castiglioni- “the most significant game to attract curiosity and interest was to multiply the image of the feet and legs of the people, using the audience as a subject.”