6 art installations for the Milan Design Week From the Dazi of Porta Venezia reworked by Muhama to the controversial Pesce chair
Design Week has transformed Milan into a sort of open-air museum. Walking through the streets of the city these days means breathing art and enjoying the many installations situated among the various neighborhoods. From Brera to Piazza Duomo, from 5Vie to Porta Venezia the works available are so many that it is difficult to choose which one to visit. nss suggests you 6 that you absolutely must see.
"A friend" by Ibrahim Mahama
Where: Caselli Daziari di Porta Venezia - Piazza Guglielmo Oberdan, Milan 2
The Ghanaian Ibrahim Mahama is the author of the mega installation at Porta Venezia A Friend. Hired by Trussardi Foundation, the artist has wrapped the imposing Caselli Daziari with jute bags, a way to make people think about important issues such as migration, globalization, the movement of goods and people across borders and nations. Jute bags are manufactured in Asia, imported into Africa for transportation on an international scale of various kinds of goods and then torn, patched. These mendings are the symbol of conflicts and dramas that for centuries have been consumed in the shadow of the global economy. Mahama explains that each of them
"tells about the hands that raised it, like the products it brought with it, through ports, warehouses, markets and cities. People's conditions remain imprisoned there. And the same happens to the places it passes through”.
A Friend will remain visible from Tuesday 2 to Sunday 14 April 2019, for more info visit the Trussardi Foundation website.
“Echo Pavilion” by Pezo von Ellrichshausen
Where: Corte d'onore of Palazzo Litta, Corso Magenta 24
The Corte d'onore of Palazzo Litta houses Echo: the sculpture pavilion built by Pezo von Ellrichshausen. The work, conceived as permanent, is a monolith composed of two overlapping volumes, an accessible cube and an inverted pyramid open upwards. Covered with mirrors, the structure reflects the baroque colonnade on the outside, while inside it reveals a portion of the sky, isolating the natural element from the context of the city. The Chilean architectural studio founded in 2002 by Mauricio Pezo and Sofia von Ellrichshausen explained in an interview:
"This object can be understood as a magnifying glass with two opposite effects: the exterior, coated in polished stainless steel, reflects the historical architecture in which it is located, while the interior, with the grid structure of the walls, rich in textures and shadows, it denies the surrounding environment and attracts attention to the open sky. In this way the pavilion oscillates between appearance, reproduction and disappearance".
"Revealed" by Alex Chinneck
Where: Area Quattrocento, Opificio 31, via Tortona 31
RoBOTL is an example of how polluting elements can be transformed into something significant with recycling. This about 6 meters high superhero is, in fact, made with recyclable and disposable elements, mainly with plastic bottles (more than 8000 just to make the skin) and materials from the design industry. Alongside the work, we find the RoBOTL RECYCLING STATION, created in collaboration with Precious Plastic, the global community launched in 2013 by Dave Hakkens with the aim of finding solutions to reduce pollution due to plastic. Here you can participate in educational workshops on the mechanisms of recycling and create together the "Robotl Medaillon", gadget keychains for the public that reflect the symbolic pendant of the superhero. The project conceived by the Giò Forma studio together with Timberland is also the occasion to launch a preview of the brand's new footwear ReBOTL collection, which takes its name from the technology used for the upper and whose models each contain 50% recycled PET.
