Building Simultaneity in Fascist Italy Film, Furniture, and the Reframing of the Nation

• Published in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians Vol. 80; no. 2; pp. 182 - 201
• Main Author: Galán, Ignacio G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berkeley University of California Press Books Division 01.06.2021
• Subjects: Architectural history; Architecture; Broadcasting; Fascism; Furniture; Households; Inclusions; Interiors; Modernism; Modernization; Motion pictures; Nationalism; Politics; Theorists; Italy
• ISSN: 0037-9808; 2150-5926
• DOI: 10.1525/jsah.2021.80.2.182

The politics of modernist furniture design and architectural interiors in Italian films of the 1930s are addressed in Building Simultaneity in Fascist Italy: Film, Furniture, and the Reframing of the Nation. By examining set designs as well as writings by architects, critics, and film theorists (including Edoardo Persico, Carlo Enrico Rava, and Rudolf Arnheim), Ignacio G. Galán analyzes how the modernization and stylization of interiors featured in film aligned the project of modernism with that of Fascism. This article reassesses the relationship between architecture and politics in Italy, exploring how the broadcasting ofmodernist furniture and interiors throughout the national territory contributed to the Fascist program of regenerating Italian society and helped to shape connections among Italian households. Galán describes these connections as “simultaneities,” drawing on film theory as well as on theories of nationalism. Such connections were critical to the development of Fascism in Italy, helping to shape the community of the nation and helping Italians to negotiate its violent inclusions and exclusions.