Franco Mazzucchelli
Curated by Cathrin Mayer
Kunstverein Braunschweig, Braunschweig
21 June – 5 October 2025

Since the 1960s, the Milan-based artist Franco Mazzucchelli has been exploring the relationship between art, space, and the public sphere. He became known for his experiments with synthetic materials and the PVC sculptures he based on them, also known as Inflatables. His works, which are exhibited in museums, gardens, churches, and factories, are known for their forms. Some of these inflated rings, spheres, and spirals are placed in nature before becoming part of the urban environ ment; they float on the surfaces of lakes, coil through sand dunes, or lie in the desert. The emphasis here is on the social function of art and the interaction with these monumental objects; many of the artist’s works explicitly invite viewers to touch, paint on, and play with them, turning the appropriation, transformation, and reaction of their environment (and those in it) into part of the artistic process. The conscious decision to leave the works in public space is another fundamental element of Mazzucchelli’s artistic practice. What happens to them is withdrawn from the artist’s control. Often, all that remains are photographs and videos, as witnesses of the interaction between the sculptures and their surroundings.