International BNL of Italy 2023

Moroso is the Official Supplier of the Corporate Hospitality spaces of the International BNL of Italy 2023, hosting the exhibition MODERNA.
The title of the installation is a homage to its location, the Foro Italico, built between 1928 and 1937, the period of art referred to by art historians as Modern. In this context, the term “modern” means “belonging to the present.” But by “modern world,” we also imply a complex series of subjects that have influenced the future since the days of antiquity, a past in which Rome has always held a gravitational pull and served as a source of inspiration. The visit is intended to provoke in the visitor a series of visual suggestions between art and design that can evoke a romantic reflection on the evolution of form through the lens of Italian style.

For the first time this year, the LEA will be held at the Sala Delle Armi. LEA, the organization behind Hospitality in Sport and Health for the BNL Italian Open, will host guests and sponsors of the tournament. It begins as a journey of art and design and continues into the corporate hospitality lounge within the Stadio Centrale del Tennis (Tennis Central Stadium). Within the Sala delle Armi, there are three suspended walls that display the most recent cycle of works by Gianni Politi (Rome, 1986). The pieces are on display between the restaurant, furnished with Moroso’s Impossible Wood chairs, and the lounge area in which the Pebble Rubble sofas, signed by the Swedish designers Sofia Lagerkvist and Anna Lindgren of Front Design for Moroso, evoke a sensory experience that gives them a central role. An engaging and intriguing illusion that appeals to the viewer and piques their curiosity, altering their perception of time.

The Foro Italico Club (FIC) Room is host to works by Andrea Sala (Como, 1976). . Iconic Moroso designs have been chosen to furnish the FIC, in contrasting forms and materials. These include the Pacific sofa, with its soft forms emphasised and defined by the complete absence of edges and by its “couture” touches, paired with a Ruff armchair. Together, using simple geometry, these capture the essence of the interaction between sharp and curved lines that dovetail with the architecture of the surrounding space. The finishing touch to the space is the Pipe miniature sofa by Sebastian Herkner for Moroso. Its structure is built with a powder-painted 80mm aluminium tube, upon which rests a seat cushion that hints at the idea of the inflatable module. With Pipe the Gogan armchair, designed by Patricia Urquiola for Moroso, which takes its name from Japanese stones rendered smooth by time and water.

As you walk into the Montemario Sud room, the path crosses with the graphic sign structure through a selection of sculptures and paintings by Marta Mancini (Rome, 1981). The interior leans on dark grey tones and small splashes of colour, adding a sense of life to a sophisticated room in which the eye is drawn to the Gogan sofa with its terrazzo fabric and the Getlucky armchairs by Patricia Urquiola for Moroso. At the far end is the Taba settee, “the entwinement of form and poetry, the linear with the elusive,” says the designer Alfredo Häberli.

In the Montemario Nord room, the graphic sign path continues with a series of paintings on rough jute by Alice Ronchi (Milan, 1989). The interior consists of faint colours between white and pastel shades that offer a backdrop to the works. The Bohemian sofa, a “liquid” reinterpretation of the classic padded couch, is matched with a Getlucky armchair with its inviting backrest wrapping up the design neatly like a small bow, by Patricia Urquiola for Moroso.In contrast, there is the Square settee and small armchair, designed by Jonathan Olivares for Moroso.

The path ends in the Presidential Room, where the recent photographic study of the Foro Italico by Giovanna Silva (Milan, 1980) is displayed in two formats, to offer a comprehensive understanding of the installation and the inside of the historic sporting complex. Through its contemporary vision that covers modern elements, equipment, architectural adjustments, as well as daily life, it has formed a layer effect of multiple ages. For the interior, iconic sofas are used that were designed as innocent reflections which go through an accumulative process, unconscious pen strokes, doodles; it starts with a single line and ends with an elaborate and complex piece. It is merely the pretext for the embroidery. The sofa design takes its shape from a folded blanket. Doodle by Front for Moroso.

Interior Design: Claudia Pignatale / Secondome
Edited by: Giorgio Galotti
Project Manager: Andrea Pivano
LEA Masterplan: Fabrizio Graziani
Light Design LEA: Massimo Pascucci
With thanks to: BNL d’Italia Corporate Hospitality Team