Desertions, with Enzo Mari in America

In 2007, the designer Enzo Mari set out for America together with Gianluigi Ricuperati and Giovanna Silva. Thus, a journey began across the deserts of California and Nevada, from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, with the aim of collecting whatever the desert had to offer. Behind the quest for the found object lies its transformation – in the hands of the designer Mari – into an object of design, of which the “form is perfect because it is what it is.” Silva’s photographs recount this journey, interspersing the American landscapes with memories: an elegant man in a Panama hat, walking and smoking a cigar in the middle of nowhere. Morevoer, the book provides transcriptions of the long conversations held throughout the journey between Enzo Mari and the author.