The monumental expressive landscape that every year invades the historical courtyards of the University of Milan this time is more collective than ever, enriched by dozens of installations that reflect an idea of living as an experience and a discovery – “being at home wherever you are,” like Ugo La Pietra would say. Among the most renowned figures there are Benedetta Tagliabue, MAD Architects, Topotek 1, Mario Cucinella and Annabel Karim Kassar, Piero Lissoni with a Macchina Impossibile (Impossible Machine). In the pharmacy courtyard, there is Swing, the collective swing by Stefano Boeri Interiors, “with all this walking and looking, it’s a call to action,” like the designer explains, a call to participating in a collective game, entering on tiptoe in the architecture of Filarete (after the event, the installation will be relocated in the urban area of Milan).
G.C.

The presence of the Superstudio cluster is now a classic at the Fuorisalone, and this year it is renewed with a vast overview that embraces all the nuances of present, gathering research, themes, and productions from all over the world: from the Asian R-evolution – with designers and institutions from Thailand, China, Malaysia, Japan, and Korea – to the Unexpected Objects, “odd but beautiful objects,” to the virtual, the with women of design, a look into the future and collective education of Stars of Today curated by Giulio Cappellini, and the experimentations carried out by schools like ISIA Firenze and Istituto Marangoni.
G.C.

This year, Solid Nature takes us into the depth of matter, in a multisensory experience involving both the surface and the underground depth of a Neo-Romanesque garden, that of Casa Maveri in Brera. The underground installation curated by Ellen Van Loon and Giulio Margheri (OMA) investigates the processes of stone formations, inviting the visitors to get lost in a labyrinth of rooms, which becomes a path of intimate discovery in seven acts, from initiation to reward. In the garden, the stones interpreted by Sabine Marcelis, Bita Fayyazi, Studio Ossidiana and Ward Strootman portray their kaleidoscopic, sensory potential.
G.C.

What happens to design at the incredible hub of technological acceleration that is Singapore? Six among designers and firms bring to Milan a taste of the South-Eastern city-state, through 3D printed vases, new textile technologies that can produce flexible and three-dimensional shapes, AI-generated structures, and low-consumption lamps created with recycled elements. To accompany the exhibition, which is also a way to rediscover Porta Venezia’s toll gates, there is a nice bibliography with some key books you need to check out, beyond the usual displays, in order to understand where design is headed today. The exhibition is promoted by Singapore’s DesignCouncil and curated by Maria Cristina Didero ans Tony Chambers.
A.S.