Milano Design Week, 5 things not to be missed today / 4

Very few installations of the 2023 Fuorisalone have such a successful relationship with their venue as “Monsieur Dior,” the project by Philippe Starck for Dior at Palazzo Citterio. A majestic semi-circular screen envelops the central pillar of the basement of the 1700s palace, which was part of James Stirling’s 1980s renovation design and never completed. Dozens of “Miss Dior” and “Monsieur Dior” chairs twirl all around the room. Visitors are invited to stop on the entrance double ramp and admire the chairs’ fluid and controlled dance, synchronized with the video and sound accompaniment. A small, more conventional exhibition is set up on the opposite side of the screen, which can be visited before moving back onto the ground floor and into the daylight.
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Palazzo Citterio, Via Brera 12, Milano, Italia
18, 19, 20, 22 april h. 9-22, 21 april h 11am-22pm, 23 april h 9am-8pm
Photo Francesco Secchi

It is an ambitious and successful installation that with which KIA occupies the spaces of Palazzo della Permanente and dedicated to “Opposites United.” Six immersive rooms portray the values of the brand through powerful plays of lights, colors, reflections, and projections, combined in various ways to create a range of different experiences. The event is complemented by a series of high-level conferences that involve important figures from the contemporary design and cultural world: from Femi Adeyemi to Marco Sammicheli, from Bethan Laura Wood to Andrea Lissoni.
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Il team di design di Google, guidato da Ivy Ross, torna alla Design Week dopo la pandemia con una bella installazione divisa in tre parti, in cui l’acqua è protagonista. La sonorizzazione è dell’artista losangelino Lachlan Turczan. Ritagliata fuori dai distretti più battuti del Fuorisalone, lo spazio di Mountain View è un’oasi di pace che profuma di quel sogno californiano sospeso tra ultratecnologie e momenti zen. C’è uno spazio bianchissimo dove il visitatore entra in dialogo con l’acqua, aggirandosi tra vasche cilindriche, sperimentando risonanze e piccole turbolenze; un teatro in cui adagiarsi per abbandonarsi alla danza delle onde ricreata su grandi pannelli rotondi in tempo reale. Infine, l’ultima stazione, che ricollega l’acqua al design dei prodotti Google, chiude il cerchio. 
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There are two must see events at Masell. One is at the via Paullo venue, where CFGNY, the New York-based group entirely made up of artists of Asian descent, took over; with its “Emporium,” the group problematizes the concept of “vaguely Asian” and it does so by deconstructing two different ideas of Chinatown – the one in Milan and the one in New York, the latter recreated with cardboard, in a whirlwind of cross-references of meaning between architectural elements and the layered aesthetics of design. Then, at Marsell Paradice, there is “Transmitter / Receiver” by Carsten Nicolai, the artist and musician also known as Alva Noto (among his various monikers): an installation originally was originally produced for Haus der Kunst Munich. 
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A Dutch partnership for an event that goes well beyond surprise, in an already exceptional space on the map of the Design Week. This is the recipe chosen by the famous denim brand, that this year chose the frescoed interiors of the 16th-century San Paolo Converso church to present Baas’ work, a project about circularity and sustainability, but that does not save on provocations that trigger reflections. There are three cabinets designed for this event, made in recycled denim from the G-Star stores all over Europe, where the clients could bring their used jeans; the same material was also used to create a 15-meter-long jet, which represents the beginning of a reflection on distances, movements, and consumption of the design world.
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