by Francesca Boccadoro.
Creativity merges with the intrinsic characteristics of materials, while designers pose a grand and singular question: how will today’s choices shape the future? These are just some of the themes addressed by the events of February 2024, a multicultural stage dedicated to a recurring theme that traverses all different exhibitions in Italy and abroad: style, recounted in multiple and inspiring visions.
It starts with history, retracing iconic names and industry figures that have marked a crossroads of taste and design, moving through prestigious auctions where it is possible to acquire timeless masterpieces. But that’s not all: there are also special themed events and archives reopened to the public. There is no shortage of options for a 2024 dedicated to 360-degree cultural exploration.
SANT’AGOSTINO ASTE – DESIGN AT AUCTION
Up for auction is an interesting variety of furniture, home objects, and lamps by the most important Italian and foreign designers, including Achille and Piergiacomo Castiglioni, Carlo Scarpa, Afra and Tobia Scarpa, Piero Fornasetti, Gino Sarfatti, Carlo De Carli, and Takahama Kazuhide. The most famous brands like Arredoluce, Arteluce, Fontana Arte, Stilnovo, Cassina, and B&B will also be present.
By registration
Sant’Agostino Aste
February 2024 – santagostinoaste.it
©Sant’Agostino Aste – Design At Auction February 2024
IRMA – A DESIGN STORY
A cultural icon (the girl dressed in blue) and a Danish national symbol: the fascinating story of the Irma supermarket chain that brought art and design into people’s everyday lives. 137 years of activity, from the opening of a small shop in a basement in Nørrebro to the present day, and its characteristic artistic jars, bags, toys, and packaging. A true design story accessible to everyone.
Hours: Tuesday-Sunday 10:00-18:00 | Thursday 10:00-20:00 | closed Monday
Admission fee: adults DKK 130; young people (18-26 years) DKK 90; children 0-17 free
Designmuseum – Bredgade 68, 1260 – Copenhagen – Denmark
From February 1 to August 24, 2024 – designmuseum.dk
©Desinmuseum – Irma – a design story
PANDOLFINI CASA D’ASTE – COLLECTIBLE CUPS
A selection of one hundred porcelain and majolica cups from the 18th century, prestigious manufactures ranging from Venetian ones by Cozzi Vezzi and Antonibon to specimens from the Manufacture of Capodimonte and the Real Fabbrica Ferdinandea, up to the Ginori di Doccia Manufacture. Also present are rare majolica specimens from Milanese, Lodi, and Savonese manufactures, along with some examples of German and French porcelain.
By registration
Palazzo Ramirez de Montalvo – Borgo Albizi 26 – Florence
Auction from February 8-15, 2024 – pandolfini.it
©Pandolfini Casa d’Aste
LABYRINTH OF MASONE
The world’s largest labyrinth, born from the visionary mind of Franco Maria Ricci, a famous publisher, designer, art collector, and bibliophile, reopens in anticipation of the warm season. A series of events kick off, including the ongoing exhibition until March 17th titled “Orhan Pamuk: Words and Images,” curated by Edoardo Pepino: an exhibition dedicated to the unpublished graphic production of the Turkish writer, Nobel Prize in Literature. Also, a treasure hunt, “In the garden of Venus,” for Valentine’s Day, on the two consecutive weekends of February 10th, 11th, and 17th, 18th, dedicated to lovers who will be invited to search for the hidden flower crown among the bamboo. All information on subsequent events can be found directly on the website.
Hours: 9:30-18:00, last entry 16:30
Admission fee: adults € 18; reduced and conventions € 15; family 4 people € 58
Labirinto della Masone – Strada Masone 121 – Fontanellato – Parma
From February 10, 2024 – labirintodifrancomariaricci.it
©LabirintodellaMasone
NILUFAR – CARLO ZAULI
An exhibition dedicated to the Italian ceramist and sculptor: Nina Yashar, in collaboration with the Carlo Zauli Museum, has curated a selection of works that trace the most representative sculptural periods of the master, from the best-known works to many others never before presented to the public. An important initiative to celebrate Zauli’s art, one of the cornerstones and greatest innovators of 20th-century ceramic art.
Hours: Monday-Saturday 10:00-13:00/14:00-19:00 | closed Sunday
Free admission
Nilufar – viale Lancetti 34 – Milan
Until February 25, 2024 – nilufar.com
©Nilufar – Carlo Zauli – photo Filippo Pincolini
PIER FAUSTO BAGATTI VALSECCHI AND LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
Pier Fausto Bagatti Valsecchi was a protagonist of the cultural events of post-war Milan. He participated with great interest in the artistic initiatives promoted in the capital of Lombardy: he was in fact among the first members of the FAI council, as well as among the founders of Italia Nostra, an association created to protect the historical, artistic, and natural heritage of the Nation. In the family’s city residence, now a museum, the wardrobe of the Green Room turns into an open archive with a selection of sixty volumes – from the vast collection of almost a thousand books dedicated to the garden, landscape, and botanical world – which becomes a library open to the public.
Hours: Wednesday 13:00-20:00 | Thursday and Friday 13:00-17:45 | Saturday and Sunday 10:00-17:45 | closed Monday and Tuesday
Admission: full € 12; children and teenagers aged 6 to 17 €2; reduced and conventions € 9 details on the website; children up to 5 years old, escorts of people with disabilities, Friends of the Bagatti Valsecchi Museum, ICOM Members free
Museo Bagatti Valsecchi – via Gesù 5 – Milan
Until February 25, 2024 – museobagattivalsecchi.org
©Pier Fausto Bagatti Valsecchi and Landscape Architecture
TEA TALKS – ART CONVERSATIONS AT CASA BAGATTI VALSECCHI
Six tea-time meetings in the splendid setting of Palazzo Bagatti Valsecchi in Milan, giving voice to the museum’s permanent collection. The theme of the first appointment on February 28th is “Nature and its symbols: wonderful flowers, plants, and fruits,” where the symbolism in ancient European painting tradition will be explored, reviving the taste for an art that has made history of style.
By registration – info@museobagattivalsecchi.org
Hours: 17:30-19:00
Admission by reservation only: full 1 meeting € 10; full 6 meetings € 50; members: full 1 meeting € 8; full 6 meetings € 45 (visit with tea and pastries included)
Museo Bagatti Valsecchi – via Gesù 5 – Milan
February 28, 2024 – museobagattivalsecchi.org
©Museo Bagatti Valsecchi – Detail Madonna Lenti by Carlo Crivelli, 1472
BRUNO MUNARI – THE LIGHTNESS OF ART
An experimental and versatile artist, he is one of the most interesting figures in the Italian cultural landscape of the 20th century. The exhibition celebrates him with an exhibition project that retraces the fundamental stages of his career, dedicated to experimentation, which has crossed the entire 20th century, leaving a corpus of works as varied and innovative as ever. A clear reading of the creative processes underlying his poetics and the spectacular and playful forms with which he has always addressed an undifferentiated public, thanks to a wise combination of art, technique, and playful spirit.
Hours: Wednesday-Sunday 11:00-19:00 | closed Monday and Tuesday
Free admission – guided tour € 8
Eataly Art House – via Santa Teresa 12 – Verona
Until March 31, 2024 – eatalyarthouse.it
©Bruno Munari – The lightness of art – Travel sculpture, 1958, Private collection.
TRUE BLUE
Moiré Gallery Milano inaugurates the exhibition curated by Ouafa Tahoun, a journey into the different expressive forms of the color blue: from fashion to design, passing through art. The exhibition presents a new layout, with a great scenographic impact, and introduces the works of three new artists: TITA, Camelia Tutulan, and Simona Tavassi. Works by artists Arnaud Nazare-Aga, Felipe Cardeña, and Andy Warhol from the Deodato Arte Collection are also featured.
Hours: Monday-Friday 11:00-19:00 | closed Saturday and Sunday
Free admission by appointment
Moiré Gallery – via Borgonuovo 5 – Milan
Until April 2024 – moiregallery.com
©Moiré Gallery – True Blue
RESEARCH IN RESIDENCE # 2: ANNA PUIJANER/MAYO
The iconic CUBEX kitchen system by Louis Herman De Koninck began to be marketed in 1931, spreading the principles of modern cuisine in Belgium for decades. The Unworlding CUBEX exhibition critically revisits the original project, speculating on new potential forms of kinship and domestic work. Anna Puigjaner (MAIO) is the second researcher to repropose the collections of CIVA through the Research in Residence program, following the Kitchenless Cities research, where the elimination of the kitchen from the house allows the domestication of the urban sphere.
Hours: 10:30-18:00
Free admission
CIVA – rue de l’Ermitage 55 – Brussels – Belgium
Until April 28, 2024 – civa.brussels
©Research in Residence #2 Anna Puijaner/Mayo
LIFE CYCLES THE MATERIALS OF CONTEMPORARY DESIGN
An exploration of the regenerative power of design that shifts its focus towards a more collaborative relationship with the natural world. The objects in this exhibition highlight the entire life cycle of the materials they are made of. From extraction to reuse or disposal, designers are exploring new ways – sometimes drawn from old traditions – to use materials in their efforts to rebalance ecosystems.
Hours: 10:30-17:30
Admission fee: adults $30; seniors 65 with online document $22; disabled $22; full-time students with international student document $ 17; children up to 16 years old and subscribers free; online ticket discount $ 2
MOMA – 11 West 53 Street – Manhattan New York – New York USA
Until July 7, 2024 – moma.org
©MOMA – Life cycles the materials of contemporary design
THE FUTURE IS PRESENT
Will the society of the future be more diverse or more homogeneous? How will we prioritize and design our communities? What will the future be like and what will design be like? Designers from around the world are working to solve some of the global challenges: an exhibition that asks questions and queries, imagining the tomorrow that awaits us and how to improve it.
Hours: Tuesday-Sunday 10:00-18:00 | Thursday 10:00-20:00 | closed Monday
Admission fee: adults DKK 130; young people 18-26 years DKK 90; children 0-17 free
Designmuseum – Bredgade 68 – Copenhagen – Denmark
Until December 31, 2024 – https://designmuseum.dk/en/exhibition/
©Designmuseum – The future is present
On the cover, detail of “Nothing, moreover, is absurd for those who fly,” 1930s, Bruno Munari, Private collection. ©Bruno Munari – The lightness of art.
