The Most Interesting Art Installations at Fuorisalone 2019

Every year Milan Design week attracts millions of tourists from all over the world. Over the last years what is happening outside the main exhibition (Salone Del Mobile) and is called Fuorisalone became equally or even more important. Hundreds of events and art installations are taking place in various corners of Milan which during this week resembles one huge museum of Modern Art. Let’s have a look at the most interesting this year.

Gaetano Pesce has presented the installation of Maestà Soffrente – an eight-meter copy of the UP5 armchair installed in front of the Duomo Cathedral. It is one of the most important symbols of Italian design which has a long history and social importance. The armchair is a metaphor of the feminine body. Covered by numerous arrows it represents the vulnerability of a woman in modern society.

The Circular Garden

This art installation created by Eni in collaboration with the Carlo Ratti Associati represents the idea of an architectural structure that is born from the earth and then returns to it, as a part of the circular process.

It was located in the Botanical garden of Brera. The structures used mycelium (the vegetative part of the fungus) as a building material, and once the exhibition finished, these were dismantled and returned to the earth.

A friend

A Friend is an imposing installation designed specifically for the two toll towers of Porta Venezia in Milan by the Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama (Tamale, Ghana, 1987).

A Friend wants to trigger a reflection on the concept of threshold, that passage that defines the inside and the outside, the self and the other, the friend and the enemy. The artist wraps the neoclassical gateways of Porta Venezia with jute bags, creating a second skin in such a way as to give the two buildings a new identity, leading to looking at them no longer as mere monuments, but in light of their historical origin and their symbolic and economic function as a place of commercial exchange.

Bulgary installations

At Milan Design Week, the fashion house Bvlgari has presented two installations. The first was in the Indro Montanelli Public Gardens Park and was dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the B.zero1 jewelry series. And the second was the work of Argentine artist Thomas Sarazeno. It was located nearby, in the urban planetarium Ulrico Hoepli.

Interni Human Spaces

Interni Human Spaces is the title of the 2019 event which, once again, puts the accent on the issues of the environment and sustainable development, starting from today’s emergencies: the climate, the pollution of the seas, the scarcity of resources. Design, industrial production, and research on the development of new materials and the recycling of those offer possible solutions.

Born from the collaboration between designers, architects, organizations and manufacturers of furniture and innovative materials, the installations insist on the circular economy, on the reuse of plastics, on the use of innovative materials such as the roots of mushrooms.

Huge installation stands out on the lawn of the courtyard of the Universita Degli Studi di Milano. It is composed of two tons of plastic caps contained in bags of nets, arranged on the grass to form the word HELP, clearly visible from above. Designed by the artist Maria Cristina Finucci, the installation was promoted by the Roma Tre University with the collaboration of Caritas, and represents a warning to the environmental disaster.

Another installation In the courtyard of the University Degli Studi di Milano was a ten-meter pavilion MultiPly, assembled from 16 cubes of American rosewood. This project is the result of the Waugh Thistleton Architects’ work in collaboration with SEAM, AHEC and Arup. It illustrates how environmental issues and the housing crisis in the world can be solved through innovative construction.

Giraffe in love

This installation was born from the collaboration between the designer Marcantonio and the Qeeboo brand that pays tribute to the highest mammal in the world among the most endangered due to poaching.

Wood is the protagonist of La Foresta dei Violini, which stands out in the Cortile d’Onore: a large easel that supports two large spruce logs, eradicated by the natural disaster of November 2018 that brought down 700,000 cubic meters of very fine wood, used by centuries to make stringed instruments. Born from an idea by Nemo Monti, the installation is a place of active memory, created with the contribution of the Autonomous Province of Trento and the Magnifica Comunità di Fiemme.

DDN Phutura

The path winds for about 6000 square meters, including spectacular and immersive installations, able to tell the relationship between the human being and the environment, making the most of technology. The entrance door of Ddn Phutura, starting from via Beltrami, is represented by two greenhouses: large and bright spaces, places of comparison where visitors can attend talks, debates and meetings dedicated to the culture of the project. The two Fenice greenhouses, built by the Privitera Company, at sunset were animated by light effects and artistic performances.

An immersive and interactive journey that winds through 4 environments and allows visitors to discover the production cycle, from post-consumer waste wood to the finished product. The project represents the best solutions, current and future, of contemporary living and is made by Saviola Group.