Traces of the Bal Tic-Tac, the Futurist club, came to light in 2017, when renovation work was being carried out for the Money Museum. It had been entirely decorated by Giacomo Balla and only survived in archive documents and in newspaper photos, but nobody knew exactly where it had been.
Balla had decorated the entrance hall walls and ceiling with seamlessly intertwining forms. In his signature futurist language, these forms created an immersive space that may have been animated by colourful and intermittent lighting. The upper floor was probably partly lined with canvas panels painted in shades of light blue tempera. The dance floor was more or less in the centre of the club, facing the staircase and the orchestra stage.
Contemporary music and dance gave Balla the essential rhythm that he translated into the decor, and you can admire some of the early findings in these pictures.
The 'total' space of Bal Tic-Tac
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Giacomo Balla -
Ceiling detail -
Ceiling detail -
Overall view of the ceiling -
Wall after stripping -
Entire wall after stripping -
Ceiling after stripping -
The Bal Tic-Tac building as it is today
