Invention, Creativity, and Imagination in Visual Communications
By Bruno Munari. Translation and annotations by Jeffrey Schnapp.
The first-ever English translation of Bruno Munari’s classic treatise on creativity, replete with new contextualizing annotations
“But isn’t imagination also fantasy? And can’t fantastic images also assume the form of sounds? Musicians speak of sonic images, sound objects. How does one invent a fish tale, an air-cooled engine, a new plastic? ... fantasy, invention, creativity think; imagination sees.” Never before translated into English, Bruno Munari’s Fantasy, originally published in Italian in 1977, invites the reader to explore their own imagination, creativity and fantasy through a journey into Munari’s mind and work. His theory of creativity, developed in conversation with the Reggio Emilia Approach (a self-guided approach to education) and the work of Jean Piaget (a Swiss developmental psychologist who proffered a theory termed “genetic epistemology”) foregrounds the book’s journey through Munari’s design processes, both working for clients and teaching design principles to children. By turning both life and work into a classroom, Munari unlocks a path through imagination in order to access his, and in turn the reader’s, deepest sense of play. The facsimile reprint is accompanied by new contextual annotations by Munari scholar and design historian Jeffrey Schnapp. These microinterventions highlight the innovations that make this work as relevant today as when originally published. Bruno Munari (1907–98) was an Italian artist, designer and inventor who contributed fundamentals to many fields of visual arts (painting, sculpture, film, industrial design, graphic design) in Modernism, Futurism and Concrete art, as well as to nonvisual arts (literature, poetry) through his research on games, didactic method, movement, tactile learning, kinesthetic learning and creativity.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
Archive of Objects
Eleonora Matteazzi
With its ironic and accessible style, multiple illustrations, and emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches, this book remains a great resource for anyone wanting to work on their creative process.
Stephen Heller
The late Bruno Munari is a legend. Not a fly-by-night one but a real pillar of Italian culture, and an artist of the world. I am certain you’ve seen at least one of his stunning books for children or his pocket-sized paperback lexicon of Italian hand gestures. I own a few books on Munari’s books, and some of the books themselves. His oeuvre is vast; he dealt with so many themes and he’s especially fond of books that take liberties with form and content.
David Reinfurt
Bruno Munari is a bit too well-known in the United States for children's books. He’s less well-known for the breadth of his work. He was an artist, a designer, a writer, a teacher, an industrial designer, a TV host, and a curator.
Munari moved gracefully between these roles and brought an audience with him. His work was warm and sharp, generous, and entirely his own. He offers a model for working designers that continues to shine.
Paola Antonelli
For Munari, play is a way to move beyond the rigid compartmentalization of art and design, art and life. Surprise–the fundamental element of play–is the secret link between them all.
Jonathan Olivares
As a student, I picked up a copy of Fantasia and took Italian classes so that I could read it. In this book Munari lays the groundwork for practicing poetry, curiosity, humor, and subjectivity within the field of design. 'Fantasy' is a foundational work of inquiry, and the English translation is imperative and will have lasting impact on English speaking design practitioners.
Scratching the Surface
Jarrett Fuller
As I was reading 'Fantasy' for the first time, it felt almost like a bridge between [...] two sides, blending the theoretical writing of 'Design as Art' with the playful imagination of [Munari's] children’s books.
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Saturday, March 29, at 3 PM PST, Artbook at Hauser & Wirth in Downtown Los Angeles presents a conversation between Fantasy translator Jeffrey Schnapp and writer and educator Peter Lunenfeld on the first-ever English translation of Fantasy: Invention, Creativity, and Imagination in Visual Communications, Bruno Munari's classic treatise on creativity. It is published by Inventory Press.
Q & A followed by a book signing.
Event livestreamed on Instagram @artbookhwla.
Please RSVP for the event and pre-order a signed copy here. continue to blog
It would be very hard to convey just how excited we are to announce Inventory Press’s new, first-ever English translation / facsimile edition of Bruno Munari’s beloved 1977 treatise on creativity, Fantasy. “A study on fantasy will seem to many an impossible task,” Munari writes. “For some, fantasy is caprice, oddity, extravagance. For others it is fiction, that which is false, an illusion, an imagining, a superstition. For some peasants a fantasia is a folk dance; for others a hallucination, a fixation, a whim. It can be understood as a reverie, a phantasmagoria, an inspiration, or a form of transport. For the military, it is an occasional exercise to be performed when the usual rigorous rulebook isn’t in force. Fantasy is also irregularity, aimless tinkering. And if that weren’t already enough, isn’t invention also fantasy? And isn’t fantasy also invention?” Featured photograph is from the chapter on stimuli for creativity. Other illustrations represent Surrealist artworks, a ship in a bottle, an exceptional bonsai tree and the imprint of an oak leaf, to name just a few. continue to blog
Fantasy Invention, Creativity, and Imagination in Visual Communications
Published by Inventory Press. By Bruno Munari. Translation and annotations by Jeffrey Schnapp.
The first-ever English translation of Bruno Munari’s classic treatise on creativity, replete with new contextualizing annotations
“But isn’t imagination also fantasy? And can’t fantastic images also assume the form of sounds? Musicians speak of sonic images, sound objects. How does one invent a fish tale, an air-cooled engine, a new plastic? ... fantasy, invention, creativity think; imagination sees.”
Never before translated into English, Bruno Munari’s Fantasy, originally published in Italian in 1977, invites the reader to explore their own imagination, creativity and fantasy through a journey into Munari’s mind and work. His theory of creativity, developed in conversation with the Reggio Emilia Approach (a self-guided approach to education) and the work of Jean Piaget (a Swiss developmental psychologist who proffered a theory termed “genetic epistemology”) foregrounds the book’s journey through Munari’s design processes, both working for clients and teaching design principles to children. By turning both life and work into a classroom, Munari unlocks a path through imagination in order to access his, and in turn the reader’s, deepest sense of play.
The facsimile reprint is accompanied by new contextual annotations by Munari scholar and design historian Jeffrey Schnapp. These microinterventions highlight the innovations that make this work as relevant today as when originally published.
Bruno Munari (1907–98) was an Italian artist, designer and inventor who contributed fundamentals to many fields of visual arts (painting, sculpture, film, industrial design, graphic design) in Modernism, Futurism and Concrete art, as well as to nonvisual arts (literature, poetry) through his research on games, didactic method, movement, tactile learning, kinesthetic learning and creativity.
