by Erika Knerr

Cristina Chiappini works at the intersection between art and design which is my exploration at the moment. Christina uses complex ideas to crisply articulate her ideas of feminism and other social and cultural concerns. Roses of Flesh/Spines of Light is a project that distillates the male and female genital organs into pictograms to talk about sexuality and genital mutilation. She uses a transparent paper effect, influenced by Bruno Munari’s children’s book about the foggy streets of MIlan printed on vellum.  Cristina’s lecture was incredibly inspiring and book ended our studies that began with the beginnings of typography. We started this week in ALL CAPS with C.F Cresci being the first known to study the relationship between big and small letters and the origins and influences of classical roman typefaces like Bembo to the contemporary, conceptual use of typography today in New Media.  Chiappini has been able to use concepts of the body, space and time to create a contemporary humanism showing ways to effectively communicate in a very didactic, yet nor overbearing reach to an audience of all ages, especially the young.  She looks to artists using their own body in their work like Charles Ray, Erwin Wurm and the provocateur Maurizio Cattelan for inspiration.  She is interested in the way the human body changes it’s habits according to technology and how the internet eliminates our conception of time.  She does interactive workshops with her students and is currently producing an interactive conference on Design in Rome.  Cristina is also creating an archive of feminist material of the history of feminism.