Artistic consultant to the Italsider steelworks: art enters the factory and the factory produces culture (Watch a documentary video).
In 1956 Eugenio Carmi became artistic consultant to Cornigliano, the Genoese steelworks where Gian Lupo Osti was secretary-general. In accordance with Schumpeter’s and Olivetti’s management theories, Osti was convinced that a factory should not only be a source of material goods, but also and above all — thanks to its enormous economic potential — a producer of culture and a means of encouraging civil progress. An enlightened manager, he was in charge of a programme for relaunching the steelworks, which, like other Italian firms, had received funds from the Marshall Plan in the post-war period: together with an innovative industrial plan, Osti immediately sought to promote a cultural policy closely linked with both the intellectual and contemporary artistic milieux and the surrounding area, and this was why he decided to make use of an artist’s sensibility. Osti invited Eugenio Carmi to create a new, progressive corporate image. In 1961 Cornigliano merged with Ilva to form Italsider, which included other steelworks. Under Osti’s management, with Carmi, Italsider became a powerhouse of ideas and culture. At the same time Eugenio Carmi’s artistic work was extremely fruitful, leaving a strong mark on the factory, which, in its turn, influenced the artist’s poetics. (Read the text by Umberto Eco (in Italian) - Read Gillo Dorfles’ text on Carmi’s works, Appunti sul nostro tempo (in Italian)) In parallel with this, Carmi was one of the leading exponents of the international style in the graphic arts.
