As part of Florence‘s radical utopias exhibition, the Florence Institute of style international (FIDI) is exhibiting Lapo Binazzi’s string of super-sized inflatable items covered with paradoxical political communications.

Titled the Urboeffimeri, or ‘urban ephemeral objects,’ the originals were first designed by Italian radical group UFO in 1968, featuring phrases that represented themes of anti-war, anti-consumerism, and socialist politics. The bits were constructed using a lightweight polyethylene tubing material and then inflated using modified motors of the vacuum cleaner. Upon them, political comment expressing the youth’s voice for social change was written using duct tape.

Today, first architect and member Binazzi redefines the colors of the images, materials, and measurements remembered from his youth, to create the full size reconstructions despite the fact that the 1960s artifacts have been lost over time. Using black and white 35mm film from the protest, the political communications, form, and kind have recreated by image research aided by the design institute, FIDI.

As the title states, the inflatable inventions were created to provoke a reaction, lasting only for a short while during expositions or for road protests. ‘They had been inflated, served their function, and were immediately deflated,’ clarifies Binazzi.

To mark the 50-year anniversary of the revolutionary movement, the ‘radical utopias’ exposition in Florence has put on screen new variations of their missile-shaped balloons ‘Urboeffimero no. 5’ and ‘Urboeffimero no. 6’.

The exposition remembers a critical interval turning Florence to the focus of a revolution in thinking that had a profound impact on the progression of art in the worldwide level. For the first time in a single venue work from figures and groups like Archizoom, Remo Buti, 9999, Gianni Pettena, Superstudio, Zziggurat, and UFO have been exhibited in hopes to create a dialogue between objects of design, videos, installations, performances and narratives illustrating another possible universe.

‘It cannot be claimed that the objects weren’t a success,’ proceeds binazzi. ‘since the protest that comprised the no. 6 ‘super s’ ended with the ‘s’ shape opening up into twenty-five meters long and two-meter tall tube that blocked the authorities from the escaping students.’

Gallery Strozzina hosts ‘radical utopias’ until 21 January 2018 and is curated by Pino Brugellis, Gianni Pettena, and Alberto Salvadori.

The setup includes a brushed eleven meters long and two-meter tall tube, eventually developing a six-meter high setup. Titled the urboeffimeri, or ‘urban ephemeral objects,’ were featuring phrases which represented the themes of anti-war, anti-consumerism, and socialist politics. The inflatable object, in the courtyard of Palazzo Strozziare, is a replica of 1960 original.