White Flag

Observing the ‘cannibal’ intrinsic aspect of utopias, the Italian pavilion at the London Design Biennale suggests a global surrender, a white flag to be interpreted.

The Triennale Design Museum represents Italy during the London Design Biennale 2016 with the installation “White Flag”, curated by Silvana Annicchiarico and Giorgio Camuffo. The theme of the first edition of the London Design Biennale is “Utopia by Design” which celebrates the 500th anniversary of the publication of Sir Thomas More’s classic, Utopia (1516).

The exhibition runs for 20 days and 20 Italian designers have been selected. Each one has been asked to design a white flag, filling it with symbols, signs and meaning to convey the value of a surrender, of a truce, a contemporary metaphor of utopia, according to the curators: not a form of construction, but rather an act of deconstruction. On the first day, the 20 flags will be planted on a suitably redesigned map of the world: flags fluttering and moving in the breeze. One by one, each flag will disappear day by day and, in its place, there will be an object chosen or designed by the designer.

As the curators say: “Throughout the course of history, utopias have almost always attempted to build new worlds. And impose new models. Each one saturating the space and claiming to be unique and perfect. The result is a world saturated with models that suffocate each other. That are mutually exclusive. That all attempt to exclude the others and assert only themselves. Perhaps the time has come to think about utopia not as a form of construction, but rather as an act of deconstruction. As a moment of surrender.

“This is the idea: a world that surrenders. That raises a white flag. That takes a step back. That calls for a truce. That lays down its weapons. That does not impose itself, but that opens itself up. That stops the endless monologue of all utopian ideas and that gives in to the need for dialogue. In other words, that gives in to the need to interact with others, with the imperfect, with those who do not fit the norms and standards. With those who believe in another model, another dream, another god.”

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"White Flag", Italy Pavilion at the London Design Biennale 2016

"White Flag", Italy Pavilion at the London Design Biennale 2016

White Flag
Italian Pavilion
London Design Biennale
Somerset House, London

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White Flag

Observing the ‘cannibal’ intrinsic aspect of utopias, the Italian pavilion at the London Design Biennale suggests a global surrender, a white flag to be interpreted.

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