Ugo La Pietra

Bussi sul Tirino, 1938

Ugo La Pietra lives and works in Milan, where he earned his degree in architecture from the Politecnico in 1964. Trained as an architect, he is also an artist, filmmaker, editor, musician, comic book artist, and professor; since 1960, he has described himself as a researcher in the fields of communication and the visual arts, operating simultaneously in the realms of art and design. A tireless experimenter, he has explored various artistic movements (from “Pittura segnica” to conceptual art, from “Narrative Art” to artist-made film) and utilized a wide range of media, conducting research that culminated in the theory of the “Disequilibrating System”—an independent concept within Radical Design. Since 1964, he has taught at the Faculties of Architecture in Milan, Pescara, Palermo, Turin, Venice, and Milan; at the Milan Polytechnic’s School of Design; at the Monza Art Institute; at the ISIA in Faenza; at the European Institute of Design in Milan; at NABA in Milan; and at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan; from 2000 to 2005, he directed the “Artistic Design for Business” Department, which he founded, at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan. Since 2009, he has been an adjunct professor at the Milan Polytechnic, School of Design, and at NABA in Milan. He leads seminars and workshops at numerous universities and academies in Italy and abroad. He has presented his work through numerous exhibitions in Italy and abroad, as well as in various shows at the Milan Triennale, the Venice Biennale, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Lyon, the FRAC Museum in Orléans, the Faenza Ceramics Museum, the Ragghianti Foundation in Lucca, the Mudima Foundation in Milan, and the MA*GA Museum in Gallarate. Through his artworks and objects, as well as his theoretical, educational, and editorial work, he has always been a vocal advocate for the humanistic, meaningful, and regional aspects of art and design.