In via Assab 1, Elena Quarestani presents three exhibitions in the former printing company that has recently become the Milanese headquarters of the Formafantasma studio. The “1+1+1” group show curated by Federica Sala proposes, once again this year, a dialogue between three artists from different backgrounds: Belgian architects Jan Ve Vylder and Inge Vinck who challenge visitors to look at the reality around them with different eyes; Piacenza-based artist Claudia Losi who expresses her historical work of embroidery and botanist artists Caretto/Spagna with an installation that harvests and circulates rainwater. In addition to the “1+1+1” exhibition, Assab One will be hosting the evocative site-specific work “Cartogramma Bianco” by Daniele Papuli and the photographic installation “360° Horizon” by Marco Palmieri, until 16 October.

The nearest metro station to Assab One is Cimiano. Open until Saturday 11th September. opening hours 3 p.m. - 7 p.m.

(Giulia Guzzini)

The most elegant temporary store at the Fuorisalone is undoubtedly the Gucci store in Via Manzoni 19, where the first Gucci Lifestyle collection is presented. In the windows and in the small, refined premises of a historic jewellery store, everything is meticulously curated, starting with the sign that looks like that of a traditional Italian stationery store from the early 20th century. If the exterior is sober, the interior is designed to surprise: in a small Wunderkammer, or Renaissance study, one can find fans made of wood and silk satin, notebooks (covered in GG Supreme fabric or in Gucci’s new sustainable material, Demetra), cases with coloured pencils and a set of bioresin dice. Among the “special” effects that help immerse visitors (one at a time, so expect a bit of a queue) in a fairytale atmosphere somewhere between Harry Potter and Alice, are the mouse house carved into the wall, the electric train hanging from the ceiling and the chess set that moves by itself.

The Gucci temporary store is located in via Manzoni 19. It can be visited until 17th September, opening hours 10 a.m. - 7 p.m.

(Elena Sommariva)

From the center and the north of Milan, the spotlight now moves to the south, to the Inganni area. Inside the huge complex of the Military Hospital of Baggio, between Via Forze Armate and Via Simone Saint Bon, is the new home of Alcova, the curatorial project by Space Caviar and Studio Vedèt, which for some years now is themust-see destination for the Fuorisalone. Within its 3,500sqm of exhibition space, made of gardens, outdoor paths and ruined buildings covered with vegetation, once inhabited by nuns and nurses, this week the work of 50 exhibitors including independent designers, galleries, schools and innovative brands, can be found.

Alcova is located in via Saint Bon 1, M1 Inganni. Open until 12th September, opening hours 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.

(Marianna Guernieri)

“Which is your favourite?” Raquel Quevedo reaches down and grabs a multiform, shaggy sculpture, a whitish mound that turns blue along the ridges, perfectly sized to fit in the palm of her hand. She says she appreciates its complexity, the cross-references between organic and inorganic, and how each time she finds something new in it. It is one of the 200 sculptures that the Barcelona-based artist presents at Marsell Paradise as possible fossils of the future, thus nothing new that hasn’t already been seen before, yet entirely in line with the mainstream wave of our era, where people at happy hour talk about the post-anthropocene with the same fluency with which we wore a suit in the 1980s.The exhibition is completed by a screening, graphic design works, and a beautiful hardcover book, which combines narrative and non-fiction texts, and in which one can find a font especially created by Quevedo, which also features on the exhibition poster. A choral gaze that embraces the planet.

Marsell Paradise is located at Via Privata Rezia, 2, M3 Lodi. The exhibition is open until Saturday 11th  September, visiting hours 3 p.m. - 7 p.m.

(Alessandro Scarano)

Slightly off the beaten tracks at the Statale, in one of its most hidden cloisters, the installation Bamboo (竹) Ring  :||| Weaving a Symphony of Lightness and Form by Kengo Kuma for OPPO appears like a vision. The architect explores the harmonious relationship between man and nature by creating a light and “accurate” sculpture of bamboo and carbon fibre that makes sounds and vibrates in the courtyard of the Statale, encouraging visitors to walk around it. Curator Clare Farrow, who first brought the sculpture to London's V&A during the London Design Festival in 2019, speaks of it as “an old friend who, at the time talked, but now sings”.

The installation is located in the courtyard of the Bagni dell'Università Statale di Milano, via Festa del Perdono 7. On view until 19 September. 

Nilufar Gallery is celebrating 10 years of encounter between designer Bethan Laura Wood and gallery owner Nina Yashar. With the exhibition “Ornate”, the eclectic and colourful British designer invites us to “travel with the eye and the mind”. With references and reinterpretations of very different worlds - from the British Aesthetic Movement to traditional Japanese Meisen Kimonos - Wood designs a collection that tells of her travels around the globe. Particularly appreciated are the Meisen cabinets and desk, upholstered in Alpi wood, whose pattern refers to the shimmering, almost vibrant patterns of the warp and weft in the Ikat weaving used to produce Meisen fabric. 

Nilufar Gallery is in via della Spiga 32, The exhibition is open until 11th September from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

(Salvatore Peluso)

A small cardboard labyrinth that could be a schematic model of a Call of Duty setting, with a host of GoPro lenses looking out from holes in the walls: This is *First Personal Shooter*, the first of the four spaces in which “Sturm&Drang”, a collaboration between the Fondazione Prada and the ETH Zurich, describes CGI not so much in terms of its results, which are now ubiquitous and often impossible to distinguish from what we perhaps call “reality”, but in terms of the construction processes behind it, how it is used and the impact it has on our perception. This is followed by Gibsonian echoes, deconstructed tutorials and Blender screenshots to discuss the relationship between architecture and virtual space. This exhibition is part of a larger annual project, and in some ways a continuation of an exhibition already presented by Prada in Tokyo.

Osservatorio Fondazione Prada is in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, with access next to the Prada store, MM1 Duomo. Open until 12th September, opening hours 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.

(Alessandro Scarano)

For this September’s Fuorisalone, Heineken has set up a “reusable” bar in the courtyard of the prestigious Palazzo Serbelloni, saving “6,539 kg of waste, 5,335 kilowatt-hours of energy, 21,128 kg of CO2e emissions and 25,108 litres of water”. The Greener bar is built with wood that fell near Amsterdam’s Heineken brewery, has no flooring (difficult to recycle, they explain), uses cushions made from discarded uniforms, sustainable energy, and so on. All this is accompanied by talks and meetings on sustainability and a lot of Formula 1 - which is not exactly a symbol of ecology, but we’ll get over that. And then DJ sets every night. There’s even a water hose with a crank to cool your beer bottle. The gap between the philosophy of the bar and the elegance of one of Milan’s favourite fashion locations will perhaps prompt a rethink of its aesthetics. This should be the step that will make us like the concept of sustainability more or else we will end up in the cardboard-coloured sadness of the Supersalone.

Palazzo Serbelloni is in Corso Venezia, 16 Milan. Open until 12th September, from 12 p.m. to 10.30 p.m.

(Alessandro Scarano)