Primary is pleased to present “Contact Tango” an exhibition organized by Miami-based design gallery, Ponce Berga. The exhibition brings together pieces from Ponce Berga’s inventory with artwork from a small grouping of contemporary artists.
Contact Tango takes its name from Contact Improvisation and the Argentine Tango- both being practices based on the finely skilled yet spontaneous movements created by a performance of a complementary dialogue. The exhibition embraces the space as a hybridized diorama which literally displays domestic vignettes staged by the curators, much like a proper showroom would, while maintaining a mis-en-scene of the intrinsic qualities of each individual work- form, color, concept, origin, and intent.
The dynamic vistas are gleaned from the viewer’s vantage points, allowing for the body to participate in the movements occurring within the established diorama. This rhythmic experience speaks to the domestic theater which is implicit in Contact Tango, but the absence of an actual domestic scene firmly plants the gestures within an institutional space. It is this very paradox which allows for the gallery to function as a complex framework for the collection of objects- arranged thoughtfully by the curators, navigating their own relationships with these complexities.
Including works by : Alvar Aalto, Jacques Adnet, Franco Albini, Philip Arctander, Richard Artschwager, Gideon Barnett, Melchiorre Bega,Osvaldo Borsani, Michel Boyer, Luigi Caccia Dominioni, Nanna Ditzel, Paul Frankl, Greta Grossman, Franca Helg, Axel Einar Hjorth, Pierre Jeanneret, Finn Juhl, Vladimir Kagan, Kaare Klint, Angelo Lelii, James Mont, Federico Munari, George Nakashima, Gio Ponti, Jean Prouvé, T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings, Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann, Frits Schlegel, Philip Smith, Ilmari Tapiovaara, Paavo Tynell, Mogens Voltelen, Edward Wormley, Renzo Zavanella