He stood as a designer for artists and an artist for designers alike, a restless innovator whose career of creative exploration spans the 20th century. Bruno Munari, born in Milan in 1907 and living until 1998, remains one of culture’s most influential voices. Yet, for a long stretch, his work was underrecognized in Spain.
To break this gap, the Juan Mart Foundation organized Munari’s first retrospective in Spain. The show traveled to Madrid and, in collaboration with the Alicante museum network and the Generalitat Valenciana Consortium of Museums, has now arrived at MACA. It opened this morning and will be on view through September 25. The curatorial team emphasizes that the exhibit offers a panoramic view of Munari’s practice, tracing a path from editorial graphic design and product design to painting, sculpture, and interactive projects that connect ideas with playful form.
“If Munari could have chosen a seaside city for his first retrospective, Alicante might have pleased him,” commented Manuel Fontan. The exhibition features 137 works and is organized by Marco Meneguzzo and Aida Çapa. It surveys decades of experimentation, including projects, books, research objects, and games, offering a glimpse into an expansive practice that blurred the boundaries between art and design.
Fontán notes that the show presents Munari’s plural activity as a cohesive portfolio of tools used in both plastic and visual investigations. The installations feel like a collective of diverse creators—Munari is described as an entertainer who also acts as an innovator, a figure who could be seen as a director in a circus, leading with a pioneering spirit.
Picasso once hailed Munari as the “Leonardo of Our Time.” In the 1930s, Munari disrupted abstraction with inventions that were at once playful and functional—air-driven instruments, experimental machines, and a meditation on usefulness. He explored new processes, from copy machines to early programming concepts, and continued to experiment with light, producing poetic, technically intricate works such as the Fossils from 2000 and other travel-inspired sculptures and talking utensils.
The curator highlights Munari’s fascination with the internet era long before its time, noting that Munari sought ways to add harmony, humor, and truth through connectivity and modern media.
Dating with Art in Madrid
The artist’s pedagogical impulse defined much of his career, shaping exhibitions in Alicante and Madrid that emphasized education through making. During the late 20th century, Munari established laboratories for children and workshops that encouraged learning by doing, experimenting, and playing—a forward-thinking approach that resonates with today’s hands-on cultural pedagogy. A notable showcase in Milan’s Brera Gallery underscores this enduring belief in art as a vehicle for discovery.
Along with the core installations, the exhibit includes a specially designed workshop created for the event, featuring spaces where children and young people can interact with the artwork. The display highlights Munari’s “Great Lucini Alphabet” and other participatory elements crafted to invite direct engagement with artistic processes.
Collaborative Work
The works presented—drawn from galleries, foundations, private collections, and Italian institutions—will later travel to Palma at the Juan March Foundation and to the Spanish Museum of Abstract Art in Cuenca. They include contributions from the Fondazione Jacqueline Vodoz e Bruno Danese in Milan, the Repetto Gallery in London, the Lafuente Archive, Gaudí Cadaqués Gallery, and the Ugo Mulas Archive. The organizers note that productive partnerships among institutions are essential to realizing such ambitious retrospectives, and the collaboration with MACA and the Consorci de Museus has been crucial.
The project is framed by remarks from city leaders who describe Munari’s polyhedral output as forward-looking and ahead of its time. MACA’s international orientation and its commitment to avant-garde practices are positioned as a natural fit for Munari’s educational ambitions, enriching Alicante’s cultural landscape and challenging audiences to engage more deeply with contemporary art.
Bruno Munari’s Work at the Aula d’Estiu del MACA
The cultural program surrounding the exhibition includes remarks from cultural organizers who appreciate how Alicante and MACA have become recognized travel destinations for important exhibitions. They view this show as a catalyst that strengthens the city’s standing on the national map of contemporary art institutions.
The director of the Consorci de Museus emphasizes that the exhibition will connect with MACA’s broader discourse and its commitments to modern art education. There is a sense that this presentation will remain accessible in Alicante rather than moving exclusively to Valencia, reflecting six years of regional collaboration and substantial investments in exhibition production, housing, and mediation projects.
Complementary activities
- summer class. Summer Munari/Real Estate Munari. Summer Art School. From 4 to 29 July. From 9 to 2 o’clock.
- Free guided tours. MACA offers dynamic visits for groups to both permanent collections and temporary exhibitions by pre-booking at 965213156 or by mail: [redacted]. Guided tours without prior appointment occur at 18:00 on Saturdays in June, July, and September, and at 12:00 on Sundays and holidays.
- Education workshops. Inspired by Bruno Munari’s pioneering pedagogical research. Saturday in July and September: 11:00-13:00 Requests [redacted]
- Documentary and podcast. Documentary Munari: Can it be done any other way? This program explores Munari’s thinking. View the film and access additional materials at the museum’s platform. The Munariana podcast complements the documentary, available on the museum’s channels.
[Citation: Juan Mart Foundation; MACA; Consorci de Museus; Brera Gallery; Fondazione Jacqueline Vodoz e Bruno Danese; Repetto Gallery; Ugo Mulas Archive]