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La mostra Redesign 1979-2019 propone un dialogo ideale tra le esuberanti provocazioni di Alchimia di fine anni Settanta e un “redesign” contemporaneo, riproposti 40 anni dopo dallo stesso Alessandro Guerriero e rivisitato in chiave tecnologica da Ghigos.

La sedia Universale di Joe Colombo e la Zig Zag di Rietveld diventano così occasioni per mettere in scena un cortocircuito tra passato, presente e futuro prossimo, tra le radici di un design “banale, psichico, artigianale” che mantiene la sua carica visionaria e un design sempre più informatico, open source e democratico.

Cambiano gli Alfabeti Visivi, si cercano nuove Cosmesi, ci si avvale di tecnologie innovative, ma il concetto di Redesign è davvero mutato? Guerriero e Ghigos propongono le loro visioni improbabili, provocatorie, emozionali – espressioni di nuove Alchimie o di processi in “low resolution”, a 8 e 16 bit – dove pacificamente convivono “artigianato, industria, informatica, tecniche e materiali attuali e inattuali” (A. Mendini).

Molte persone, soprattutto quelle con qualche anno in più sulle spalle, sono solite affermare che “tutto è già stato fatto”. Vero o falso che sia, accettiamo questo annoso refrain; ciò nondimeno restiamo dell’avviso che tutto può essere ri-fatto, meglio o peggio dell’originale. Confidiamo infatti che una citazione o un omaggio, dir si voglia, ci sgravi dal peso del passato, permettendoci di ripensare e ridefinire gli oggetti che accompagnano la nostra esistenza.

Se il design cerca di aderire a nuove idee e intuizioni, il redesign attinge a una serie di [vivide] reminiscenze per condurci a un ulteriore livello di comprensione. E mentre la produzione industriale tende allo sterminio degli errori di progettazione, il redesign adotta la pratica del rimescolamento e del disorientamento per mettere in crisi gli oggetti e i loro autori. Di contro alle utopie moderniste, il redesign ci porta all’interno di una gioiosa ucronia, un mondo differente e volutamente imperfetto che riesce a sorprenderci, ridestandoci dal torpore della banalità.

È sempre bene ricordare che gli oggetti non sono mai definiti una volta per tutte, appartengono a un patrimonio collettivo che è fonte d’ispirazione e reiterazione. Il gruppo Alchimia aveva tentato l’azzardo nell’ormai lontano 1979, minando l’identità di alcune icone del design e mostrandocele come mai ci saremmo aspettati di ri-vederle; con lo stesso intento, il collettivo Ghigos ha deciso di riprovarci avvalendosi delle tecnologie di digital fabrication, accettando la sfida del «design integrato e uniformato dalla tecnologia e dall’informazione» che Guerriero e Mendini avevano propugnato quarant’anni prima. L’impegno da parte degli uni e degli altri nel ripensare la Zig Zag di Gerrit Thomas Rietveld e la Universale di Joe Colombo ci permette quindi di interfacciarci con nuovi modelli culturali e con nuove peri[pe]zie tecnopoetiche che intendono debellare il conformismo e l’ovvietà.

Fare, disfare, rifare. Distruggere per creare. Alla “seconda vita” degli oggetti immaginati dal gruppo Alchimia si affianca ora una “terza vi[t]a” offerta dai Ghigos, resta giusto da chiedersi cosa dovremmo attenderci dal redesign dei prossimi quarant’anni? La sfida resta aperta a inedite narrazioni, con la consapevolezza che bisogna smettere di essere semplici fruitori: dobbiamo imparare a essere degli interpreti della vita.

“FAVOLE AL TELEFONO” presents a Gastronomic History of Italy told through some its historical brands, using an hybrid format that includes an interactive exhibition, an immersive exhibition and a widespread exhibition. The interactive exhibition at Design Hostel’s entrance consists in taking an old SIP telephone on the desk and dialling a number, associated with one of the brands. A voice answers the phone and begins to take us into a personal history, a research that shows the food Made in Italy. At the same time the space comes alive: all the projections, inside Design Hostel’s rooms, shepherd the “tales” told on the phone. There are historical documents, landscapes of distant regions, stories of products, about tenacity, courage and intelligence, which are mixed in the space of the Makerspace. Walking in the different thematic rooms, the visitor can completely immerse himself in the world of each brand; through photos, objects and projections each company history is presented, giving voice to its protagonists. Nevertheless, this is a field that can be fully known only by tasting it. This is why the narration is not limited to the exhibition, but it can be tasted at the “tasting points” scattered around the city,that compose an inviting widespread museum.

The project “Sleeping with DESIGN” sees the transformation within the Milanese Innovation District of the top floor of an old vertical factory, which now houses the largest makerspace in Italy (MakersHub + IDEAS Bit Factory), in a new model of hospitality: temporary “pop up” rooms in which designers, selected through an international call, live with their works.                                                                                                                                                               For the Milan Design Week, the space unfolds like an new hybrid hostel, a cross between the concept of a temporary home and that of a living factory, where you can visit the artists rooms and live their daily lives.

The installations give life to a gallery exhibition that contextually travels from the analogical production to the digital innovation and the interactive approach.

Politecnico, Milan. Over 150 years of history. Tens of thousands of works and projects
both created and still to be invented. A complexity and variety of thought which is hard to
express if not through the concept of a journey. The idea was given to us by Laura Curino
in the show Miracoli a Milano, in which each miracle is staged as a delicate and
indispensable act of transmission of consciousness with the journey as a metaphor,
the common thread and link.
Now, in the same way, this interactive installation sends us on a voyage of discovery.
The voyage becomes the selected category of works created as well as current
polytechnic research.
“A miracle, we say, every time we are wonderstruck”. With a feeling of marvel, we begin as
the pioneers did, we move among stories and we immerse ourselves in history. Full of
meaning, the shimmering walls vibrate and multiply. Kaleidoscopic effects make reference
to the etymological union of the words “see” and” beautiful” as well as to the rhetorical
figure of entrelacement, in a continuous interweaving of stories and outcomes.
They are generated through a number of visual motives created by Lucio Diana for the sets
of Miracoli a Milano, they are reiterated in tiny geometric forms, taking over the space,
transforming it and rendering it “sensitive” with their infinite variations. The visitor is
therefore given the possibility of interacting with the installation, activating the multitude
of content through their actions.
All one has to do is take the ‘right’ notebook, having been attracted by the title or intrigued
by the cover, open it and place it on the nearby lectern. By doing so, never-before seen
multimedia content is activated. The narration begins. Films and images come to life on t
he vertical surface. Changing the notebook changes the projection.
A few seconds of viewing and on to the choice of a different theme.
Photographs, often period shots, sketches, fragments of shows and original video
accompany us on a journey of knowledge, or a mixture of knowledge, discovery of
unexpected results, or research, in a stream of experiments and trials. A journey which for
certain aspects runs backwards through the life of the Politecnico and of Milan, while for
others is projected into the future, through potential scenarios of scientific experimentation
and social innovation. A real and physical journey, thanks to the means of transport and the
infrastructures created by figures tied to the Politecnico. A human journey, a journey
of passion, trials and experiments carried out by professors and students.
Past visions of the future connect the visible with the invisible, events and people who are
separated by both space and time. On the contrary, present visions of the future seek
to translate the invisible into the visible, creating innovation and hoping for improvement
in the near future. The precariousness of Francesco Brioschi’s journeys by carriage, the
charm of the Lambretta, the marvellously shapely Isetta, the Roman names chosen by
Lancia, the flying cars of the future, probable cars in kit form and possible vehicles made
out of fabric – this is just a selection of the content on offer.

Sixty years of Brecht at the Piccolo are told through six keywords –
KNOWLEDGE, HUMANITY, JUSTICE, WAR, WORK, POWER –
which are emblematic of the German writer’s works and the poetry.
Every word is illustrated through audio-visual and photographic elements
from the Brecht shows produced by the Piccolo Teatro di Milano over the
period of time from 1956 to the present.
Of the 27 stagings of works by Brecht, or based on Brecht, created at the
Piccolo, 14 carry the signature of Giorgio Strehler, beginning with his
version of the Threepenny Opera which made its debut in via Rovello on 10
February 1956 in the presence of its author.
It was the spark that was to bring life to a story which was destined not only
to never be interrupted, but which was to periodically return in the history of
the Piccolo in a continuous exchange of ideas with contemporaneity.
From Life of Galileo (1963) to The Good Person of Szechwan (1981), from
Story of an abandoned doll (1976) to the experience of the Festival Brecht
in the autumn of 1995, Brecht was, for Giorgio Strehler, a constant and
continuous confrontation in his rapport with society.
The Piccolo of the third millennium does nothing to interrupt the relationship
with the playwright from Augsburg: Robert Carsen with Mother Courage
and her children (2006) and Luca Ronconi with Saint Joan of the
Stockyards (2012), the only Brecht staging of his career, add further pieces
to the Brecht mosaic. Brecht, in sixty years of history, from his origins as a
contemporary writer, has taken his place as a classic of Western literature.
The rapport between Brecht and the Piccolo is closely bound to the events
which signalled profound changes in the world. An essential chronology,
created with competence and sensibility by the critic Maurizio Porro and
projected on the wall to the right of the entrance of the multimedia space,
evokes the context in which the shows were conceived. This temporal scan
also highlights dates and essential moments in the history of the Politecnico
di Milano, the Piccolo’s partner in the creation of the project, bearing
witness to how the histories of the two Institutions have always run parallel,
in close contact with the society in which they both operate.

RovelloDue – Piccolo Spazio Politecnico is the result of the meeting between
the Piccolo Teatro di Milano – Teatro d’Europa and the Politecnico di Milano,
two organisations bound by a profound common vision and a long history
of collaboration.
Open every day, admission free of charge, with an independent entrance in via
Rovello, it is a multimedia venue for theatre which houses temporary interactive
exhibitions.
The first area welcomes visitors with a narration of words, images and video.
Information on the building is followed by a presentation of the prominent
moments in the stories of the Piccolo and the Politecnico, the two souls of
RovelloDue Piccolo Spazio Politecnico: from the foundation, to the people who
created the history of the two institutions, right up to the great productions and
inventions, the two stories ran parallel. In 2002, with the staging of Infinities at the
Bovisa, written by the English mathematician John D. Barrow and directed by
Luca Ronconi, the Piccolo and the Politecnico came together to begin a shared
journey of infinite research.
Passing through a theatre “curtain”, visitors are plunged into an immersive
environment, created to host temporary exhibitions with a strong multimedia
impact.
The first initiative – from 20 February to 17 March – is an affectionate tribute
to Luca Ronconi.
I cannot deny the dream that I have followed for a lifetime: among the recesses
of space, the interstices of time, to present an infinite show. In these words by the
Maestro lies the sense of the venue: beginning with the key words Space, Time,
Words, it is an opportunity to actively explore the work of Ronconi at the Piccolo.
The various multimedia content – photographs, excerpts of productions, sounds,
interviews – activated directly by visitors, recreates emotions and atmospheres
from Ronconi’s creative career. It is a way of respecting his “dream” of infinite
journeys created by each spectator within their own memories.
The experience is also enriched by images of all of the productions that, from
2000 to 2015, narrate Ronconi’s experience at the Piccolo, while black and white
photographs bear witness to his work with the students of the School of Theatre
which in now dedicated to him.
Theatre has given me the opportunity to live, work, and, above all, to learn.
In the theatre as Luca Ronconi saw it, as a privileged form of exploration of reality,
lies the sense of the exceptionality of Infinities, the show that the Piccolo and the
Politecnico di Milano created together, demonstrating the “infinity” of possibilities
of that which can be performed.
Video clips show the Maestro during rehearsals, in the areas of the Bovisa,
surrounded by actors, students and researchers from the Politecnico, chosen, as
he said, as living footnotes, because one cannot “drop” into a scientific discourse,
either one is knowledgeable or one is not, and with whom he shared a saying
which is at the foundation of all research, both aesthetic and scientific: the best
part is not the applying of a method, it is experimenting and discovering.

Lombardies – a unique territory with multiple identities, is an exhibition promoted by the Union of Chambers of Commerce of Lombardia.
An exhibition about the italian region of Lombardia and its multiple identities, a celebration throughout its colors and shapes. A large sub-alpine region, the heart of Europe opened to the Mediterranean, where the differences combine and give birth to social, economical and productive identities in a continuous development.
Organized in three different spaces, the exhibition guides visitors on a journey through landscapes of sensitive datas, interactive platform and dynamic projections of images.

Milano Design Week 2015. Ghigos Ideas, Emilio Lonardo, Marco Ornella and Francesca Vicari give birth to Ideas Bit Factory, the new design brand for self-production that offers experimental research about home and furnishings.

The kitchen world, the charm of déjà-vu and the discover within wastes are themes that intersect in this thousand-faces setup.

The ancient fan theme is reinvented once again, side sights to transform wastes from a mine into refined house objects and a stylish exercise to Set the city.