Bellevue Arts Museum

In the second half of the 20th century, Italian design attained worldwide recognition. The Milanese photographers Aldo Ballo and Marirosa Toscani Ballo played an important part in this success. By communicating the beauty and function of objects as well as their cultural message, the Ballos' photographs contributed significantly to the mythological status that surrounds Italian design even today. Based on the holdings of roughly 146,000 photographs in the archive of Studio Ballo, Zoom presents a new view of Italian design and its history. It focuses not only on the legendary design classics that were created during this period, but also examines the intense dialogue between objects, media and marketing that first facilitated the worldwide dissemination of these designs.