Tuesday, April 16, 2019
the most impressive outdoor installations we saw during milan design week 2019
www.designboom.com: milan design week, that time of the year were all the international design community comes to italy to celebrate design, has come to an end with incredible results in both project quality and record assistance. throughout the week we saw a series of impressive, experimental and aesthetically pleasing installations that filled the city and its alluring outdoor spaces with structures that allowed visitors to reflect — sometimes even literally — on today’s most crucial themes.
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One piece mentioned in this article specifically, 'maestà soffrente’ really speaks to me. I went to Milan 2 years ago, and visited the Duomo de Milano that is featured behind the installation. The cathedral itself is a catholic cathedral that does not allow women to enter without covering their shoulders, stomachs, and legs. When I visited, I was wearing pretty conservative clothing, but yet I was required to pay for a scarf outside, in the 100 degree summer heat, just to cover my bare shoulders. It is no coincidence that this installation about womens rights was placed outside of a cathedral that still conforms to outdated sexist rules. Men were allowed to enter in whatever clothing they wore, but women had to be covered up. The cathedral itself is gorgeous, but the sexism is not. Placing this installation right outside is a form of protest in itself, and hopefully had an impact on the people visiting the cathedral and being subjected to similar circumstances. About the only place this could have been put that would have been more subversive would be The Vatican itself.
One reoccurring theme in the exhibits mentioned in this article are attention to material and construction. I know this is in reference to more of a design perspective, but also thinking about this in an engineering setting is interesting too. I noticed one of the exhibits, an outdoor pavilion, was, to quote the article ‘digitally fabircated’. It was designed using an open-source software exploring pattern, and it seems like it was 3D printed. The consideration for the construction in the structure must have been great, as I can’t imagine 3D printing as a well-documented, engineered product. I also noticed several organically constructed/ materialed exhibits, including one made up of mushrooms. It seems like those would require a different, more iterative and organic construction process. Because it’s impossible to engineer live plants. So you have to use a trial and error and adjust the design as you go to fit what the plants can withstand.
These installations are gorgeous. The first thing that catches my eye is the incredible scale of them. I can’t even imagine how long it took to create the pieces with such precision and attention to detail. My favorite in the pictures is possibly the unzipped building. It’s gravity defying and honestly the thing that interests me the most is what it is made out of. My mind can’t comprehend how the whole building looks like it can simply be unzipped. Overall, all of these designs are beautiful and really capture your eye. I bet it was amazing being there and seeing all of the pieces in person. I’m also curious to the background of all of the artists. I feel like they would all have significant background in construction and design, because they basically built buildings for their installations. I know we are struggling with a 7 foot tall structure, I can’t even imagine the process and problem solving that went into their pieces of art.
I think outdoor installations are brilliant, and I love all the different things that artists can think of and create to put out there. All of the installations shown in the article were in fact very impressive. I really liked the first piece ‘Iqos world revealed’ by Alex Chinnek and the surreal aspects of it. I also thought the juxtaposition between the form and symbolism of ‘Maesta Soffrente’ in front of the Piazza Duomo is pretty ingenious. From the photo itself, you can’t really see them, but when you go to ‘read more on this project’ you can see that the figure is surrounded by polystyrene animal heads, all with harsh and violent expressions, which adds even more to the piece. Lastly I think the Kaleidoscope tower of butterflies was really gorgeous and loved how the inside was so much different than the wooden boards that covered the outside. It's kind of like imaginarium but on a much larger scale and budget.
Wow these installations are AMAZING. I love all the different artists and pieces at these scales and I am so interested in looking at their work in the future. All of these structures or sculptures are really interesting but the piece that stuck out to me the most was Ron Guild's for Unifor the imagery used in the piece is absolutely stunning and has me wondering what other statues or figures could be changed or adapted to add to the story. Where else in the world can something be added to change or provided more to a story. Alex Chinneck was the only artist that I recognized when I opened this article and his distortion of everyday items has always interested me like his grandfather clock tied in a knot. It's great to see an event like this to press these artists and designers forward as they are working in such a small field that requires such extensive resources to execute that we need as much exposure there to bring them into the limelight.
The scale of these installations is amazing. The creativity and variety that each of them present is really amazing. I was amazed by La Foresta Dei Violini University by Piuarch. The balance that was achieved in paying tribute to what was lost in the storm in the fiemme valley is really interesting and captivating. Additionally, I loved the delicacy of Conifera by Arthur Mamou-Mani. The fact that the pavilion was digitally printed really captivated me because of the interplay of technology and parametric design of these installations. The link to the interview below the description on this website led to even more information and photographs of the installation which left me even more captivated. These installations are beautiful and I hope to see the festival in person one day, but something I would love to learn more about is the process of installing these pieces and what that timeline would look like.
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