Touring Formafantasmas Cambio

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During the recently forced intermission, MDFF Greece invited Formafantasma to be part of our New Forms of Presence initiative with a virtual tour dedicated to the Italian duo's latest major exhibition "Cambio." ‘Cambio’ is an ongoing investigation conducted by Studio Formafantasma into the extraction, production and distribution of wood products.
This narrative journey in cambio.website is thoroughly presenting the exhibition's layers and sections, along with a series of interviews conducted by Formafantasma with practitioners who are very much linked and influential to the timber industry, such as experts from the fields of forestry, science, art, conservation, engineering, policymaking, and philosophy.

The virtual tour acts as a design compass, providing us with the exhibition's coordinates, where the core of Formafantasma's research, creative process, and distilled outcomes lie.

Cambio, from the medieval Latin cambium, ‘change, exchange’, is an ongoing investigation conducted by Formafantasma into the governance of the timber industry. The evolution of this form of commerce over time, and its tentacular expansion across the globe, has made it difficult to regulate. It grew out of the bioprospecting that took place throughout colonial territories during the nineteenth century, becoming one of the largest industries in the world both in terms of the revenue it generates and the impact it has on the planet’s biosphere.

The earliest objects in the exhibition are samples of rare hardwoods first exhibited in the Great Exhibition of 1851, a few hundred metres from this building, which represent trees logged to the point of extinction. The newest are the exhibition display furniture and seating designed by Formafantasma, all of which were made from a single tree blown over in a storm in northern Italy in 2018. Contained in every piece of wood is an archive of climatic change and the movement of natural materials around the world.

Cambio also references the cambial layer, a membrane that runs around the trunk of trees, producing wood on the inside, a record of the tree’s past, and bark on the outside, enabling it to keep growing. Like the rings of a tree, the central spaces of the exhibition present data and research in the form of interviews, reference materials and two films made by Formafantasma in response to their research, while the perimeter spaces offer a series of case studies that provide insight into the way wood is sourced and used. Each of these investigations represents a collaboration with experts from the fields of science, conservation, engineering, policymaking and philosophy. Together, they move from a microscopic analysis of wood and its ability to store carbon dioxide, to a metaphysical understanding of trees as living organisms.
This multidisciplinary exhibition highlights the crucial role that design can play in our environment, and its responsibility to look beyond the edges of its borders. The future of design can and must attempt to translate emerging environmental awareness into a renewed understanding of the philosophy and politics of trees that will encourage informed, collaborative responses.

Formafantasma team:
Riccardo Badano, Simón Ballen Botero, Gregorio Gonella, Jeroen Van De Gruiter, Johanna Seelemann, Peter Sorg

Exhibition curated by:
Rebecca Lewin, Curator, Exhibitions and Design Natalia Grabowska, Assistant Curator

With:
Marco Carrer, University of Padua, Padua
Emanuele Coccia, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris
Vanessa Richardson, Environmental Investigative Agency, London
Gaia Amazonas, Bogotá
Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam
Magnifica Comunita di Fiemme, Cavalese Naturalis Biodiversity Centre, Leiden
Philipp Pattberg Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London
Royal Museum of Central Africa, Tervuren Thünen Institute, Hamburg
Sissel Tolaas, Smell Researcher and Artist
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

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