DALLA DOCUMENTAZIONE ALLA PROGETTAZIONE, DALL’UNITÀ AL FRAMMENTO. LE FOTOGRAFIE DI ICO PARISI PER “OPERAZIONE ARCEVIA (1972-76). FROM DOCUMENTATION TO ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN, FROM THE WHOLE TO THE FRAGMENT. ICO PARISI’S PHOTOGRAPHS FOR “OPERAZIONE ARCEVIA” (1972-76)

Domenico Parisi (1916-1996), known as Ico, was an architect, designer, artist, photographer and film maker. Trained in the circle of the “Como Group” and a collaborator of Giuseppe Terragni, he came to attention in 1937 for his photographs of the “Casa del Fascio”, published in “Quadrante” magazine. From that moment on, photography would always remain one of his chosen forms of expression and often to complement his activity of invention as well. As a matter of fact, not infrequently, at the basis of some forms of the project there are recognizable pictures taken by Parisi, while just as often, to animate and complete the drawings made strictly by himself, there are clippings from his photograms. In particular, this second use of photography in the project is peculiar feature of the “visualization boards” for what was certainly Parisi’s most ambitious project: Operation Arcevia.