The group UFO (Urban Future Organization) was founded in 1967 by young Italian designers and architects Lapo Binazzi, Carlo Bachi, Riccardo Foresi, Patrizia Cammeo, Vittorio Maschietto and Sandro Gioli in Florence. UFO played an important role in the Radical Design movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s which emerged as an offspring of Architettura Radicale. Their vision was to unite architecture with art, design and literature in order to critique society and to rigorously question the formality of Rationalism and functionalism.

UFO’s work often incorporates the language and symbols of popular culture. The present lot references Hollywood and the American film industry as well as the popular comic strip character Scrooge McDuck. Semiology in general plays a large role in UFO’s work by embedding meaning in seemingly decorative elements. Lapo Binazzi, the unofficial leader of the group, particularly aimed to connect the lessons of semiology to the more rigid and scientific tenets of architecture.

(Source: Phillips)