Mittel-European, Nanda Vigo was born in Milan where she attended an art high school, and then completed her education with a degree in Architecture from the Institut Polytechnique of Lausanne and a stay in the United States.
In 1959, she opened her own firm in Milan. From that moment on, the essential theme of her art became the conflict/harmony between light and space, which the artist applied in her work, also as an architect and designer. Her multifaceted research was based precisely on the interdisciplinarity between art, design, architecture and environment.
She worked with Gio Ponti and Lucio Fontana and had a partnership with Piero Manzoni. She was a true protagonist of the Milanese contemporary art scene of those years.
She began showing her works in galleries and museums, both in Italy and in Europe. She was part of the ZERO Group, with which she exhibited throughout his life, of the Aktuel Group and of the Light und Bewegung Group of Bern.
Among her many exhibitions, she participated in 1964 in the 13th Triennale di Milano and in 1973 in the 15th Triennale, in 1982 in the 40th Biennale di Venezia and in several ZERO Group shows, such as those at the Guggenheim Museum (New York), the Gropius Bau (Berlin) and the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam). In 2006, the Triennale di Milano dedicated her the “Light is life” solo exhibition and, in 2019, a major retrospective of her work was held at Palazzo Reale in Milan.
As a designer, Vigo worked for industrial production of design objects with many companies, such as Acerbis, Arredoluce, Driade and Glas.
Among the awards she received, in 1971, the New York Award for Industrial Design for the “Golden Gate” lamp; in 1976, the 1st Saint Gobain Prize for Design; in 1998, the 1st Koiné Prize for the design of the exhibition “Piero Manzoni – Milano et Mitologia” at Palazzo Reale in Milan; in 2001, the Compasso d’Oro for the “Light/Light” shelves and, in 2008, in London, the 1st Wallpaper/Best Show Prize for the Genesis Exhibition.
On 9th September 2020, she was awarded the “XXVI Compasso d’Oro for Lifetime Achievement”.
During her career, Vigo taught in several institutions. Among them, the Institut Polytechnique of Lausanne, the Accademia di Macerata and the IED – European Institute of Design. Between 2001 and 2003, she also collaborated with the Master in Lighting Design at the Accademia di Brera in Milan.
Nanda Vigo died on 16 May 2020 in Milan.
Today, her works are showcased in the permanent collections of Italian and international institutions, such as the Triennale di Milano, the Museo del Novecento and the San Fedele Museum in Milan, the Venice Biennale, the Museum of Modern Art in Bologna, the collection of contemporary art of the Farnesina – Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome, the Zero Foundation of Düsseldorf and the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein (Germany).