Milan Design Week 2023, what to see: 15 installations not to be missed

by Redazione , published on 17/04/2023
Categories: Design / Disclaimer

April 17, 2023, Design Week 2023 starts in Milan, and as every year, on the occasion of the Salone del Mobile, the city is filled with entrepreneurs, designers, artists, collectors, and enthusiasts from all over the world. Design Week is one of the most anticipated events of the year, and as always there are many installations around Milan. We have selected the fifteen most interesting ones, either because they are spectacular or because they are particularly significant, and so here is our selection of appointments not to be missed!

1. Health Through Water - Grohe Spa

Where: Pinacoteca di Brera, Via Brera 28

When: April 18-23, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. April 20 reserved party at 8 p.m.

Grohe, the German faucet brand, creates a multi-sensory experience in the heart of Milan, namely in the courtyard of the Pinacoteca di Brera, for the launch of its premium sub-brand GROHE SPA, celebrating its passion for water through an installation that reflects the stunning architecture of the Pinacoteca itself. Four immersive environments reveal the elegant and innovative design of the bathroom: the 3D metal-printed faucets, the Atrio Private Collection and Allure Brilliant collections, the trendy Grohe Colors finishes the brand’s shower solutions.

2. The Secret Garden - Good

Where: Bene Italia Showroom, Foro Buonaparte 53

When: April 18-23, 8-11 a.m., party/cocktail April 18, 5 p.m.

Bene brings The Secret Garden surreal experience to Milan: a special edition of CASUAL by Bene outdoor furniture will be the heart of an out-of-the-ordinary botanical installation. The furniture brand has surrounded are digital art talents, exceptional paper flower artists and designers to create a work of art that aims to stimulate the five senses: an installation intended to change the public’s perspective on the symbiosis of art and furniture design, daily with a “Botanical Breakfast” with Illy coffee.

3. Noli Timere by Janet Echelman for Kohler

Where: Palazzo Senato, Via Senato 10

When: April 18-23, April 18, 21, 22 and 24 noon-2 p.m., April 19 noon-4 p.m., April 20 noon-4:30 p.m.

Kohler presents the world debut of the monumental aerial sculpture Noli Timere, by acclaimed artist Janet Echelman, suspended in the historic Senate Building. The brand will also unveil limited edition products featuring four female artists from around the world to celebrate the company’s 150th anniversary. Still, Kohler will offer an interactive digital experience in which visitors become artists, manipulating colors, patterns and shapes within the space.

4. Dry Days, Tropical Nights by Agostino Iacurci

Where: Palazzo Treves, Largo Treves 1

When: April 17-23, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. (on the 17th 11:30 a.m.-4 p.m., on the 21st until 9 p.m., on the 23rd until 7 p.m.)

glo™, brand of electronic smoke, together with Agostino Iacurci presents Dry Days, Tropical Nights, a large installation in Largo Treves that invites the viewer to look at how our landscape could become and build a better tomorrow all together. Iacurci’s intervention takes off from the exterior façade of the imposing Largo Treves tower, - soon to be demolished - to its raw interior with bright colors, palm tree silhouettes and lights reminiscent of tropical sunsets. Inspiring Augustine were two climatologists who envisioned what our peninsula might look like under current management of the Planet. What might await us are nothing but desert and tropical landscapes. Hence the work’s name, borrowed from two environmental indicators that report the severity of heat. Iacurci thus signs one of the stages of the traveling art project glo™ for art, created to support art and spread culture, encouraging a process of democratization of the artistic experience. During the week it will also be possible to enter for the first time the palace designed by Arrighetti in the beautiful Brera, the heart of Milan.

5. The installations of the INTERNI Design Re-Evolution exhibition at Statale University

Where: University of Milan, Via Festa del Perdono 7

When: April 17-23, 10 a.m.-24 p.m.

At the State University of Milan, you can visit from April 17 to 26, the exhibition-event INTERNI Design Re-Evolution by INTERNI, the magazine dedicated to design, scheduled during Milan Design Week. The Athenaeum’s headquarters in Via Festa del Perdono and the Brera Botanical Garden are again this year two of the main locations of the Fuorisalone with installations that intend to propose a choral reflection on an Evolutionary Thinking capable of activating synergies between different knowledge and fostering contaminations with other disciplines such as Science, Economics, Art and Scenography. A Revolution expressed in the result of research applied to the most sustainable materials and from the circular economy supply chain, in the technological innovation of processes aimed at a stronger integration between designer and user.

6. This is Denmark

Where: Alcova (Former Slaughterhouse of Porta Vittoria), Viale Molise 62

When: April 17-23

Thoughtful simplicity, care for people and nature, commitment to sustainability, respect for heritage, craftsmanship, and an international outlook are at the heart of This is Denmark. A design playlist, the exhibition curated by Elena Cattaneo and Laura Traldi, design journalists and industry experts, which will showcase the essence of Danish design at the Milan Fuorisalone. Scheduled to run from April 17 to 23, 2023 in the context of Alcova, the installation offers a journey of discovery of Denmark: set as if in a Danish landscape, a series of objects will be the protagonists of the installation, helping to create an experience geared toward highlighting some of the most intriguing concepts of local culture.

7. Human Mandala

Where: SIAM 1838 - Society for the Encouragement of Arts and Crafts, Via Santa Marta 18

When: April 17-23, 10:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m., on the 18th until 10:30 p.m.

The exhibition at SIAM in Milan during Milan Design Week 2023 presents a series of real human bodies arranged in a circular mandala formation, with each individual standing naked and vulnerable, but connected to the others through a network of root-like structures like a mycelium organism. The bodies are arranged to create a sense of symmetry and balance, with each individual contributing to the overall beauty and harmony of the work. The installation invites viewers to contemplate the ways in which we are all connected to one another and how the world is connected to us. As viewers move around the installation, they are able to see bodies from different angles, revealing new connections and patterns. The use of naked bodies highlights vulnerability and the raw human experience, while the root-like structures symbolize the invisible connections that unite us. Overall, Human Mandala is intended to be a powerful and thought-provoking installation that challenges viewers to reconsider their relationship with themselves and others, and to recognize the beauty and importance of the connections that unite us all. Like a giant flower that continues to bloom and expand. Creating together a powerful Mandala -- with a sacred geometry that we keep repeating and repeating and so on.

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8. The Sea Deck by AMDL CIRCLE and Michele De Lucchi for Azimut Yachts

Where: Darsena, Gabriele d’Annunzio Avenue shore.

When: April 18-23, 12-8 p.m.

The floating installation The Sea Deck, designed by AMDL CIRCLE and Michele De Lucchi for Azimut Yachts, tells the story of the desire to go beyond the expected and-as with the shipyard’s new Seadeck Series yachts-to reconnect with nature. Along the way, five terraces cantilevered over the water of the Darsena recount a journey to discover the stages that have marked the route charted by Azimut to reduce CO2 emissions and energy consumption. A journey intended to represent the state of the art of sustainable innovation in the world of yachting.

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9. ELEMENTS - TCL Green Horizon

Where: Via Tortona, 14

When: April 18-23, April 18 noon-5 p.m., April 19 and 20 11 a.m.-8 p.m., April 21 and 22 10 a.m.-9 p.m., April 23 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

The exhibition “ELEMENTS - TCL Green Horizon” aims to take visitors on a journey through the elements of nature, highlighting how the environment is a source of inspiration, creativity and innovation. TCL aims to create inspiring technology for a better future with exceptional design and user experience. TCL combines sustainable artwork, immersive experiences and innovation, inviting you to imagine a horizon where nature and technology coexist, inspiring a greener future. The exhibition begins with #TCLGreen Sculpture, a unique art installation created by Kevin Chu, artist and member of the Royal Institute of British Architects. The artworks feature environmentally friendly physical and interactive art, with discarded electronic circuits used as covering materials and presented as digital blades of grass.

10. Surfaces with a View

Where: Fenix Scenario, Via Quintino Sella, 1

When: April 18-23, 10:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m., on the 21st reserved party at 6 p.m.

The Surfaces with a View project opens the spaces of Fenix Scenario to the community, transforming the Foro Buonaparte showroom into a large theater that extends outside. Storefronts become stages covered with materials in sophisticated color combinations, creating an environment of interaction and inclusion. On the occasion of Fenix’s 10th anniversary, the future of surfaces and materials proposed by the company is staged, telling future ways of conceiving spaces that combine retail, art and entertainment. Design by Zanellato/Bortotto together with Musa.

11. Stark Textures.

Where: Civic Aquarium, Viale Gadio 2

When: April 17-23, 9 a.m.-7 p.m.

Trame is the interactive-perceptual exercise that the company Stark dedicates to the theme of Fuorisalone 2023: Future Laboratory. Stark experiments with a dynamic and participatory work to portray the landscape of the encounter between living beings. Within the installation, hands guide the effects in space, but at the same time gestures of other subjectivities can intervene and vary in turn what surrounds us. The work thus envelops us as in a canvas in which the relationships between effects are dynamically woven, inviting us to rely on a holistic and perceptual understanding of the experience of co-defining space. The installation proposes a reflection on how our actions, however conscious, are necessarily intertwined with those from other lives. A constantly changing scenario that dialogues with an evolving and interactive soundscape, curated by composer Paolo Bragaglia. An iridescent score of concrete and synthetic sounds, in constant transformation, helps to draw the narrative of the plots born from the encounters. Inside the Civic Aquarium of Milan, the collaboration with the architects Alice Buroni and Gloria Lisi together with Alex Buroni, led Stark to experiment this experience in a shared workshop, proposing a dive into the wonderful metamorphoses that relationships between gestures can originate.

12. Home Swept Home

Where: Opificio 31, Via Tortona 31

When: April 17-23, 10 a.m.-9 p.m.

Opificio 31 welcomes the provocative installation Home Swept Home, created by Fondazione CESVI, together with Fabrizio Spucches, Milano Space Makers, with curatorship by Nicolas Ballario and texts by Enrico Dal Buono, in the context of the Milan Fuorisalone. The work brings a corner of devastation to the heart of the celebration of the most innovative trends in living: a provocation that rekindles the spotlight on the denied right to a safe home for many children in the world, due to natural disasters, wars, abuse. An opportunity to talk about child protection, in the world and in Italy starting from the destruction of living space due to natural events, such as the earthquake that recently hit Syria and Turkey.

13. The Impossible Machine by Piero Lissoni

Where: University of Milan, Via Festa del Perdono 7

When: April 17-23

As part of the Interni Design Re-Evolution exhibition-event at the University of Milan, Sanlorenzo presents La Macchina Impossibile, an installation by Piero Lissoni that interprets the relentless research carried out by the shipyard toward technologically innovative solutions to reduce the environmental impact of yachting. The Impossible Machine is an imposing metal sculpture: a complex machine, highly technological but defined in its details by skilled manual labor just like a yacht. Positioned in the center of the 18th-century Courtyard, the entire structure rests on a backlit platform that enhances a mechanism made of propellers and notched wheels. These move thanks to the new hydrogen system, which Sanlorenzo is developing for the propulsion of its boats in collaboration with Siemens Energy, based on the use of combined green methanol reformer/fuel cell modules. This technology will be used to power hotellerie functions on yachts between 24 and 73 meters in length, starting in 2024 on the new 50Steel. The installation is bathed in light water vapor, the only emission, with zero environmental impact, released by the turbine driven by the fuel cell system.

14. Light - Floating Reflection by Ingo Maurer

Where: Caselli di Porta Nuova, Piazzale Principessa Clotilde 11-12

When: April 17-23, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. (on the 18th and 23rd 11 a.m.-6 p.m., on the 18th party/cocktails open to all 6 p.m.)

Ingo Maurer, well-known lighting brand, returns to Milan with a scenic open-air light installation at Caselli 11-12 in Porta Nuova, Piazzale Principessa Clotilde while inside the two buildings it will present new products. Ingo Maurer’s installation at FuoriSalone 2023 creates an impressive symbiosis of (light) art, design and architecture. The Caselli di Porta Nuova-the arch with the two side buildings-creates a kind of island with the green area around them. Across the arch stretches a “carpet” about 30 meters long, painted with striking fluorescent colors. Above it rises a surface of reflective material that hovers in the air, supported by a rope structure. The surface absorbs the colors and light of its surroundings and reflects its own interpretation of them. The effect is that not only the carpet but also the top has been covered with color. The folds of the material, its own movement and thermal variations intensify this effect, creating a unique atmosphere. The installation not only offers a radiant play of colors during the day, but also enchants with an intense nighttime effect through targeted illumination of the floor. Ingo Maurer will transform the entire large outdoor area around the toll booths into a setting to captivate citizens and visitors to the Fuorisalone while inside, in seven different rooms divided between the two buildings, new products are presented. Ingo Maurer’s installation at FuoriSalone is intended to evoke multiple messages, transforming the area into a meeting point for the entire design community, professionals and ordinary enthusiasts alike: a place to linger and reflect, a space for dialogue and discussion with a bright and stimulating atmosphere. At the same time, it is meant to symbolize the company’s new beginning after the death of its founder, world-renowned designer and light poet Ingo Maurer.

15. Walk the Talk by Italo Rota and Carlo Ratti Associati

Where: Brera Botanical Garden, Via Brera 28

When: April 17 to 26

Eni presents at the Brera Botanical Garden the installation Walk the Talk - Energy in Motion, created as part of the Design Re-Evolution exhibition-event. The installation, designed by Italo Rota and CRA - Carlo Ratti Associati, through a large interactive game accompanies visitors to discover energy and new solutions to move in a more sustainable way. Walk the Talk - Energy in Motion allows everyone, adults and children, individual players and small groups, to venture out to discover the future of mobility: from car sharing to biofuels, from electric mobility to the network of gas stations. Visitors will be able to take part in the game immersed in the garden of the Brera Botanical Garden and thus experience a different point of view on the future of mobility thanks to the design and the game experience that, together, can stimulate a collective reflection on the theme of energy and our relationship with the space in which we live and move. A special nighttime exhibit will also engage visitors after dark.

Milan Design Week 2023, what to see: 15 installations not to be missed

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