With Milan Design Week Milan in full swing, here are five of the best Milan exhibitions to see around town, including Miu Miu’s Literary Club, Google’s “Making Sense of Color,” Audemars Piguet’s Clockwork Forest, and more.
Miu Miu Literary Club Champions Women and Writing
Courtesy of Miu Miu.
Miu Miu is launching its inaugural literary club, Writing Life, a two-day event scheduled for April 17 and 18 from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Circolo Filologico in Milan. The event will revolve around Sibilla Aleramo’s novel A Woman (1906) and Alba De Céspedes’ novel Forbidden Notebook (1952) and draws inspiration from Europe’s heritage of literary salons and artist collectives. Through a series of panel discussions and performances curated by Olga Campofreda, the Miu Miu Literary Club will stage a reflection of the power of writing to empower women and inspire discourse.
Panelists include Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri, Strega prize finalist Claudia Durastanti, critically acclaimed writer Sheila Heti, Campiello Opera Prima winner Viola Di Grado, Booker Prize long-listed author Selby Wynn Schwartz and National Book Critics Circle Award winner Xiaolu Guo. Panels will be moderated by Lou Stoppard and by Zing Tsjeng.
This initiative is part of a broader series of cultural engagements by Miu Miu to promote the arts, including the Women’s Tales initiative and collaborations with multidisciplinary artists for collections and fashion show presentations.
Google’s “Making Sense of Color” Interconverts Color and Sound
Courtesy of Google.
Google is once again at the forefront of blending technology with art at this year’s Salone del Mobile Milano with “Making Sense of Color,” co-created by Google Vice President of Hardware Design Ivy Ross and her team in collaboration with Chromasonic. The multispace installation set in Garage 21 is meant to showcase how color, which is fundamental to sensing the world, plays a powerful role in Google’s latest hardware design.
The exhibit comprises 21 spaces, or nodes, each of which is activated by a single source of light and spatialized sound. As visitors traverse the rooms, Chromasonic Refrequencing makes light audible and sound visible. This sensory conversion facilitates a profound immersive experience meant to heighten visitors’ awareness of their own movements and the presence of others within the space. “Making Sense of Color” reimagines the pervasive impact of color in everyday life and shows how thoughtful design can profoundly alter our sensory experience of the world.
Prada Frames Presents “Being Home” in Milan
Prada Frames during Milan Design Week at Museo Bagatti Valsecchi on April 14, 2024 in Milan, Italy, photo by Lorenzo Palizzolo/Getty Images for Prada.
Prada Frames is returning for its third annual symposium, held in parallel with Salone del Mobile Milan. This year’s event, titled “Being Home,” explores the intricate connections between the natural environment and design, framing the home not just as a place of comfort but as a multifunctional space that reflects and adapts to contemporary societal challenges.
Taking place from April 14 to April 16 at the Bagatti Valsecchi Museum, Prada Frames will delve into how domestic spaces act as the foundational environment where socio-economic norms emerge and evolve. This neo-renaissance house museum, adorned with artifacts from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, sets a poignant backdrop for discussing the dynamic and ever-changing role of the home. The multi-day event is curated by Formafantasma and features an impressive roster of participants, including Paola Antonelli, Brigitte Baptiste, and Kate Crawford, among others. They will contribute their diverse expertise across a series of thematic lectures and intimate conversations held within the museum’s various spaces, from the living room to the library.
Admission to “Prada Frames Being Home” is complimentary, though space is limited and registration is required via Prada’s website.
Design Space AlUla Presents Group Show of Design Objects and Art
“Unguessed Kinships, Haus Dari” by hall haus, AlUla 2024, photo by © Lorenzo Arrigoni, courtesy of Design Space AlUla.
Design Space AlUla partnered with Madrasat Addeera Editions and AlUla Design Residency to showcase works by a wide range of Saudi Arabian and international designers for Salone del Mobile Milano. The group of artists, including Dr. Zahrah Alghamdi, Leen Ajlan, Cristian Mohaded, Hall Haus, Leo Orta, and others, used traditional crafts and raw materials and worked with artisans to produce an exhibit aligning with the Design Week’s theme, “Materia Natura.” The resulting exhibit pays homage to AlUla’s natural history and cultural heritage, while taking care to embrace contemporary aesthetics.
Audemars Piguet Opens a Clockwork Forest on Via Bagutta
Courtesy of Audemars Piguet.
Seven years since its debut in Milan, Audemars Piguet has unveiled its latest AP House on Via Bagutta in the former Garage Traversi building. The new AP House Milano sprawls over 1,600 square meters across the fifth and ninth floors of the building, which was recently restored to highlight its original aesthetic from its time as a rationalist-style multi-story car park. With curved façades and steel-framed windows, the structure makes the perfect home for the new boutique which melds heritage while embracing modern technology and art.
Audemars Piguet’s commitment to innovation both in horology and in customer engagement is reflected in the new boutique’s design, created in collaboration with Lissoni & Partners. The interiors are adorned with contemporary artworks on loan from the Francesca Minini Gallery. Adding to the experiential luxury, the AP House Milano features a vinyl station and a piano and offers a virtual reality adventure, “The Clockwork Forest,” developed in partnership with Dreamscape Immersive. This immersive experience whisks participants away into a fantastical woodland setting, symbolizing the intricate harmony of technological innovation and natural beauty—a theme at the heart of Audemars Piguet’s philosophy.
