THE SOURCE DIMENSION OF EACH MEANING Albert Einstein could not tolerate the idea that an electron exposed to radiation could freely choose when and in which direction to jump: “If that were the case, I’d rather be a cobbler or even better a gambler instead of a physicist”. Thirty years after, the Nobelist for physics reaffirms his belief: “If I were to be born anew I would not become a physicist but an artisan”. And why not a designer, an architect or an artist one can ask? But the real question is another one: are we the masters of our own destiny or do we simply endure it? This or that, something or something else: there is nothing more surprising than randomness and its’ subversive effects. Contrary to what Einstein claimed, he would have never been able to become a gambler, not him; he was in fact convinced that God did not play dice with the Universe, but a few decades latter Stephen Hawking categorically contradicted him by saying: “Not only does God play dice, but he sometimes throws them where they cannot be seen”. Without an issue of denial, we can nowadays say that chance (and chaos) surpasses (almost) always control. Nonetheless, while artists, designers and architects force themselves to rethink the world we live in the founders of CTRLZAK studio persist in conceiving protean galaxies. Even more: an alternative Universe. While on one hand they are ‘destroyers of worlds’ on the other hand they offer us the infinite resources that are the prerogative of the ‘creators of Universes’. Without ever relying on chance, or dice, CTRLZAK studio does not follow the rules, abolishes categories, escapes predefined frameworks and above all denies style. To them the only valid rule is that of an intrinsically cohesive heterogeneity. Contrarily to other creators, that base their identity on recognisable expressions, it is not possible to copy the ‘form’ of CTRLZAK studio. How come? Because theirs is a forma mentis perpetrated and perpetuated through the methodology of indiscipline. It would be reductive to describe CTRLZAK as two bodies that thing in unison and work with four hands. In them there is no duality but unity; they are probably the only two-headed creation that escaped the thunderbolts thrown by Zeus to separate in half the androgynous corpses, which were half male and half female. The founders of CTRLZAK studio belong to the original myths (that are immortal) or in other words to a source dimension, that of thought which scours space and time. Since they often resort to ‘paradigms’ in order to con-
note/advocate their research, it only seems fitting to adopt a diverse taxonomy: ‘Ucronia’ instead of Hybrid Culture, ‘Distopia’ in the place of Social Irony and ‘Eterotopia’ for Nature/Cosmos. It is not by accident that from this nomenclature Utopia was excluded, an unpopular concept to CTRLZAK, since everything that they conceive is also feasible. Each artwork, each exhibition setup and each object they envision is profoundly iconic and sensually tangible: from a germinal idea a formal concept is developed that takes flesh as a concrete thought. At the end of the day, it is the thought itself that is structural, functional and substantial. If I were asked to define the founders of CTRLZAK, I would have no doubts: they are living hyperboles. If I had to utilise a metaphor though, a histological tissue would come to mind (after all also biological tissues differentiate themselves in form and function). In CTRLZAK’s case it is superfluous to talk about art, design or architecture, of useful or delightful, it all comes down to the ratio that generates the inventio and this in turn is translated to projects endowed with ethics and with a philosophy of their own. Louis Sullivan used to say that “Form follows function” and there are some like Alessando Guerriero that provocatively inverted the axiom in “Function follows form”. But the truth lies elsewhere and CTRLZAK teaches it to us: Form follows meaning. Abram Games was right in saying “Maximum meaning, minimum means” following the teachings of Mies Van der Rohe’s “Less is more” eventually scoffed by Robert Venturi in “Less is bore”. But it is not that important to bask in the meaning of such things as it is not that important to ponder too much on the meaning of life. These kind of mental processes require periods of long incubation before they are brought to a conclusion, they have to be fuelled by research, studies, travels and discoveries that can only be accumulated throughout the years. The founders of CTRLZAK studio demonstrate to us just that with this monograph. A thesis and at the same time an antithesis, where the complete/complex gaze transforms in a comprehensive meaning –even omniscient- that we are not probably ready to comprehend just yet but that maybe in time and space we will succeed in accepting. Alberto Zanchetta, art curator & critic
form follows meaning