When you say Milan, you say Design. From the first Italian thermoelectric plant to home furnishings, from autos to the fashion boom in the 1980s, the city is known for its manufacturing excellence. However, there is a date that marks the start of an acceleration of creativity in the city. It is 28 August 1954 when the tenth Triennial is inaugurated, the expo where art mixes with daily life and the need for functionality - it is here that modern design is born. The war had ended only a short while before and an Italian miracle is about to start. Milan is the nerve centre of a new trend which encourages industry to embrace a functional aesthetic. This brings about the birth of the legendary objects of the era - from the collaboration of Ettore Sottsass with Olivetti, of Gio Ponti with Cassina and Venini, of Munari and Mari with Danese… And in 1954, the Premio Compasso d’Oro ADI, the most important prize in the field of Design worldwide is created. It was Ponti who proposed shining a light on the quality of the Made in Italy label in a competition and, for any serious designer, the Compasso represented an obligatory step. And for this, the ADI Design Museum, being inaugurated this year in town, readies itself to become a pilgrimage destination for those wanting to explore the history of the best of Italian Design.
The retrospective of Nari Ward presents, for the first time, a combination of works that interweaves his exploration of performativity and collaborative projects: over thirty years of practice, presenting early seminal and historical works as well as new productions.
Piero della Francesca's masterpiece reunited again
In a unique and unrepeatable exhibition, a masterpiece by Piero della Francesca is presented for the first time in history, 555 years after its creation: the Augustinian Polyptych.
The exhibition presents an in-depth and original approach to Brassaï’s oeuvre through over 200 vintage prints, with particular attention to the extremely famous images dedicated to the French capital and its nightlife.
Through a series of installation interventions, spanning works of art and exhibition elements, Haris Epaminonda presents a symbolic journey in comparison with the historical avant-gardes of Futurism.