If you are interested in design but you are not a professional in this industry, and maybe not even an expert on the topic; if you didn’t have time to explore venues and events during the week; if the weekend seems a good time to embark on this quest, but you’re a bit disoriented, Domus is here to suggest a brief selection of “must-see” places, to visit as listed or in no particular order, all of them or just some, in a rush or calmy during the break.
Interni at Università degli Studi di Milano Statale
Via Festa del Perdono, 7April 10-23, h. 10am-10pm
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The University of Milan hosts as usual the collection organized by Interni, this edition dedicated to “Design Re-evolution.” The three historical courtyards are filled with dozens of installations, designed by big names as well such as Stefano Boeri, Massimo Iosa Ghini, Annabel Karim Kassar, Metrogramma and Piero Lissoni. A must-see because it is a classic and a perfect “base camp” from which to explore the city center “lit up” by the Fuorisalone.
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The partnership between Dior and the 18th-century Palazzo Citterio, in the heart of Brera, is confirmed for the 2023 Fuorisalone as well. For the French brand, Philippe Starck imagined an immersive experience, a dance of chairs that twirl accompanied by music and videos of great visual impact. A must-see simply because is one of the most ambitious and poetic installations of this edition.
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In the heart of the Brera Design District, Palazzo di Brera hosts “Grohe SPA. Health Through Water.” The renowned brand of bathroom solutions conceived a synthetic and impressive installation, a huge pool that fills the entire court of honor. A must-see because it’s not everyday that you see the courtyard of the Academy, which is already monumental, doubled and reflected in a sort of Piranesian fantasy.
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The sober façade of the 17th-century Palazzo Orsini, well set in the austere via Borgonuovo, for the 2023 Fuorisalone houses the elegant installation of Armani Casa, distributed between the court of honor and some selected indoor spaces. A must-see because it is the first time that this sanctuary of haute couture, the historic headquarters of the Milanese fashion house, opens its doors to the public.
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“Dry Days, Tropical Nights” is the installation designed by glo and Agostino Iacurci for the last few days of glory of the city offices in Largo Treves, which will be soon demolished. Inside and out, graphics and colorful lights play down the kind of dark rigor of this modernist building, a not so happy work of the capable Arrigo Arrighetti. Perhaps you never loved it, but it is a must-see of this Fuorisalone because in a few months it will not exist anymore.
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That of Hermès and the Pelota on via Palermo is another well-established Fuorisalone partnership. Every year, the French brand reinvents Brera’s, not antique but definitely vintage, sphaeristerium with successful installations: many luminous lanterns in 2022; one, big, monumental concrete and rebar platform in 2023. A must-see because it is an “architecture within an architecture,” ephemeral and powerful.
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KIA installation at Palazzo della Permanente is an ambitious and certainly spectacular one. A dark hallway gives access to a sequence of immersive rooms dedicated to the brand’s values. Sounds and music, but above all powerful lights, bright colors, bewildering reflexes, fogs of fabrics, and blue skies. A must-see because it is one of the most pleasant surprises of the 2023 Fuorisalone, and probably one of the most Instagrammable installations.
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Alcova, the independent platform designed by Valentina Ciuffi (Studio Vedèt) and Joseph Grima (Space Caviar) in 2018 continues its exploration of the city’s abandoned places. After the Cova bakery factory and the Military Hospital in Baggio, this year it gathers over 100 exhibitors in the immense, spectacular, and decadent spaces of the former slaughterhouse on viale Molise. A must-see because you have probably never seen the inside of this secluded place of 20th-century Milan.
The City of Milan and the Politecnico di Milano joined forces to finally open the l’Istituto Marchiondi Spagliardi to the public, the former reformatory in Baggio designed in the 1950s by the great Vittoriano Viganò, that has been in a state of neglect for many years and now is profoundly deteriorated. An experience for true connoisseurs and a must-see because it is a masterpiece of 20th-century Milanese architecture, and because Brutalism has never been so cool! Try, but it was sold out long ago.