Milan, FORMAE - Genesis of the Entity at the Gaggenau DesignElements Hub

In Milan, art meets contemporary philosophy: kicks off FORMAE - Genesis of the Entity, the first stage of the project promoted by Cramum and Gaggenau in collaboration with Italy Sotheby’s International Realty, curated by creative director Sabino Maria Frassà. The installation by Biella-based artist Lorenzo Gnata combines art with the design of the new Expressive by Gaggenau oven to pay tribute to the revolutionary thinking of philosopher Donna Haraway, a 2025 Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in Architecture. Haraway’s work-particularly her famous text Staying with the Trouble-becomes the conceptual matrix of the installation designed by Lorenzo Gnata, who invites the public to confront a fluid, fragile and hybrid universe, where human, technological and natural coexist in a precarious but fertile balance.

The artist places four white sculptures-the Shelters-inside the new Gaggenau Expressive oven, in dialogue with the outdoor work Medusa, a symbol of threat and potential, contamination and rebirth.

“An oven is no longer just a functional object, but becomes an alchemical forge” - Lorenzo Gnata explains. The exhibition reflects on the dynamics of transformation and contamination, according to the thinking of Haraway and Anna Tsing, where every form is constantly evolving and connecting. In this context, technology - represented by the Gaggenau kiln - is not antithetical to creation, but becomes an integral part of it, generating a profound dialogue between art, design and function.

“The work thus becomes the result of a generative contamination,” explains curator Sabino Maria Frassà. “The oven is transfigured: from a simple tool to an alchemical forge, a place of transformation where matter, exposed to the heat of creation and human ingenuity, evolves and renews itself. In this encounter, Gnata welcomes the unpredictability of change, letting the work change through the innovative lighting of the kiln and the gaze of the viewer, who first glimpses it through the porthole. Contamination, far from being a limitation, thus becomes the very engine of resilient creation. In this unprecedented dialogue lies the change of point of view necessary for birth and transformation. Only then can we understand the true nature of the Medusa: no longer a hostile figure, but a sprawling figure of connection and belonging, an inseparable element of a larger balance in which every form is in constant becoming.”

The installation, part of the Cosmogonies exhibition, which remained on view during Milan Design Week from April 8-12 (free admission), can be seen until July 17, 2025, (free admission by appointment). Subsequent stages will be enriched by the works of Masters Franco Mazzucchelli, Fulvio Morella and Carla Tolomeo. The German brand has thus created a sensory experience that spans space and time, inspired by Aristotelian metamorphosis, where beauty is revealed in its continuous becoming.

For all information, you can call +39 02 29015250 or send an email to gaggenau@designelementi.it.

Pictured: an installation by Lorenzo Gnata

Milan, FORMAE - Genesis of the Entity at the Gaggenau DesignElements Hub

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