NEW YORK.- Since providing cultural leadership in architecture during the Roman Empire or resurrecting artistic life during the Renaissance, Italy has long been at the center of creative design activity. It was in the use of this artistic creativity united with industry that Italy has been able to provide renewed leadership in the decorative arts since WWII. And nowhere has this change been more observable than in the development of Italian lighting.

Nothing has as much influence on us as light. Effecting what we perceive, see and feel light has the capacity to transmit mood, social interaction and infinite states of being in concrete ways. In Italy during the 1945-80 period lighting functioned not only as an abstract sculpture displaying great mechanical genius and innovation but also as a cultural force that defined 'the Italian lifestyle' as modern, sensual, ethereal and elegant. Finally, it began to criticize that same lifestyle and stood at the center of social and cultural criticism itself.

The exhibition will present over 50 examples of top Italian pieces from the 1945 to 1980 period. Each piece will be chosen for its importance in technical innovation, artistic and sculptural influence and its reflection on changing cultural meanings. As such the exhibition will trace forces of classicism, fascism, early and late modernism, post-modernism and craft in Italian design and anticipate their evolving meanings. The varying use of materials will enter this dialog with the use iron, other metals, varying plastics and hand-blown glass.

Among those included in the exhibition are the following artists and producers: Gino Sarfatti, Achille Castiglione, Ettore Sottsass, Luigi Dominioni, Elio Martinelli, Vico Magistretti, Joe Columbo, Bruno Munari, Ugo La Pietra, Gae Aulenti, Tobia Scarpa, Mario Bellini, Alessandro Mendini, Fontana Arte, Arteluce, Arredoluce, Guzzini, Valenti, New Lamp, Studio Arditi, Archizoom Associates, Studio Tetrarch, Studio Alchemia, Memphis and others.