The exhibition «Gianni Versace Terra Mater. Magna Grecia Roots Tribute», curated by Sabina Alfano and Fabrizio Sudano in the National Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria, enriched its journey with the exhibition installation «Mediterranee. Architecture and Design for Gianni Versace.”
Created by the Department of Architecture and Design of the Mediterranean University (rector Giuseppe Zimbalatti), it is the result of interdisciplinary work developed by the students of those courses. The aim is to present a reinterpretation of the designer’s Mediterranean imagery, in order to be integrated with the museum spaces.
The installation, open until May 3, consists of two moments. A series of figurative totems is arranged in the internal courtyard of Piazza Orsi «according to a geometric decomposition inspired by the “Greek”, recurring in Versace’s creations», while a videomapping projected on the main facade of the Museum aims to transform the building into an active element of urban visual narration. The project of the students of the Mediterranean University aims to offer a contemporary perception of the common Mediterranean roots, enhancing the extraordinary cultural and historical resources of the territory of Reggio Calabria and the Strait of Messina.
As has been explained, the Museum acts as a privileged platform for design experimentation, where the comparison between past and present becomes an educational and creative tool for new generations of architects and designers. «The installation – it was clarified – integrates with the permanent collections, including the Riace Bronzes, and with the architecture of the Museum itself, creating visual relationships and active design dialogues. The combination of physical elements, geometries and digital projections allows visitors to perceive the creative imagination of Gianni Versace through an immersive experience that combines design, architecture and history.” Initiative which confirms the Museum’s openness to experimentation and dialogue between disciplines, as underlined by director Sudano.
If Reggio continues to remember his “son” Versace, who would have turned 80 in 2026 (if he had not been killed in 1997 in Miami), the designer will be celebrated in various parts of the world. An example comes from Paris, where an exhibition has the ambition to present its entire universe: the beginnings in the family atelier in Calabria, the iconography of the Catholic religion, the influence of Greek sculpture and Italian opera, the fascination with the Baroque and its sumptuous prints. This is how, in fact, the «Gianni Versace Retrospective» exhibition is presented, scheduled at the Musée Maillol in Paris from 5 June and which will be open throughout the summer. A logical continuation of the exhibitions in London, Berlin and Malaga, it is produced by Dreamrealizer and is not connected with the Versace family or company.
On display there will be 450 pieces, all of particular interest: original creations and silhouettes, accessories, sketches, decorative objects, photographs, videos and rare interviews, with the intention of offering a complete overview of the designer and his way of working. The scenography, exasperatingly pop, imagined by Nathalie Crinière, aims to act as a backdrop for dialogue with the creative imagination of Versace, in relation with the worlds of Botticelli, Canova and Picasso and also with that of Pop Art, embodied by the works of Andy Warhol. A section will be dedicated to the great fashion photographers who were able to make Versace’s aesthetic visible to all: Avedon, Newton and other of the greatest. There will be a space dedicated to iconic models such as Carla Bruni, Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer and Versace’s links with the most famous names of popular imagination will be highlighted: from Princess Diana to Elton John, George Michael, Grace Jones, Prince and Elizabeth Hurley.