The Secret Life of the Objects

The International Exhibition of Illustration for Children continues the activity of pedagogical experimentation dedicated to children’s literature proposing, also for the 37th edition, the space “Pedagogy and Imagination“, which this year will be dedicated to The secret life of objects. Why choose items? Objects have a special function in the life of man, so special that they come to constitute themselves as an integral part of the structuring of the self. The construction of the first significant relationship between an individual and objects occurs precisely during childhood, that is when one acquires the ability to manipulate objects, to use them and to elect them as privileged interlocutors of one’s emotional experience.
Placing in the hands of girls and children books that tell stories of objects has a high value because the construction of much of our imaginary world passes through interaction with them.

Marnie Campagnaro

 

Illustration by Gérard DuBois, from La collezione di Joey (Orecchio Acerbo) – detail

Pedagogy and imagination

The Experimental Room takes up an important place in the organisation of Le immagini della fantasia. It is a place of reflection, experimentation and absolute freedom, safe and protected and yet a fundamental part of the flow of ideas, people and thoughts generated by the Exhibition. Run with care and creativity by Marnie Campagnaro, professor of Theory and History of Children’s Literature at the University of Padua and a teacher at the International School of Illustration.

In the exhibition it will be possible to meet Jacques Carelman‘s Catalogo di oggetti introvabili and discover Le stanze segrete di Monsieur Perronnet by Antonio Bonanno, have fun with Il più folle e divertente libro illustrato del mondo di Otto, illustrated by Tom Schamp and imagine the light in the illustrations by Suzy Lee of Ombra. You can sneak into La collezione di Joey (Joseph Cornell) illustrated by Gérard Dubois, imagine the stories that Massimiliano Tappari in Coffee Break or the characters hidden under the objects of Christian Voltz in his book Non è colpa mia!