The Triennial Pays Homage to Enzo Mari, Master of Design

“Enzo Mari isn’t simply a designer, he is the conscience of us all,” said the great designer Alessandro Mendini. Among the most influential creators, theorists, artists and critics of Italian design, Mari perfectly embodies the idea of a designer as a creative philosopher, capable of having his method coincide with poetry, beauty with ethics and function. The Triennial invites us to enter into his world and take in the fruit of his 60-year career in an exhibition that embraces 250 projects - from the iconic containers Putrella (1958) to the seat Tonietta (1980), from paintings to porcelain, from works in cardboard to museum displays. Drawings, projects and models come directly from the Archivio Mari, recently donated by the designer to the Centro di Alti Studi sulle Arti Visive del Comune di Milano. To better understand it all, there are video interviews created by curator Hans Ulrich Obrist and the Piattaforme di Ricerca, looking in-depth at the themes most dear to the Master. And what is Mari’s legacy for design and contemporary art? The Triennial leaves space for this as well - international artists and designers from numerous generations pay homage to the designer with works created specifically for the occasion. Among these, Adelita Husni-Bey, Tacita Dean, Dozie Kanu, Barbara Stauffacher Solomon, Adrian Paci and Mimmo Jodice. Not to be missed, the never-before-seen work of Nanda Vigo, who reinterprets, with light, two of Mari’s most celebrated works, 16 Animali and 16 Pesci.