The guide to the Milan Design Week from 17th to 23rd of April
April is design month in Milan. The city has been synonymous with fashion and design over centuries which explains why the annual Milan Design Week, celebrating the very best in Italian and international furniture, design, and ideas, is the country’s pre-eminent occasion for the design industry, from creators of established and new to collectors from around the world, heading into the city for a colossal program of events taking place across Milan throughout April and beyond, from the iconic Salone del Mobile furniture fair to the citywide festival of creativity, FuoriSalone. Many districts across the city take part in the festival, hosting a variety of fringe events. Check out the following contemporary art exhibition and design highlights:
Brera Design District
The Brera Design District is located in central Milan, and is one of the largest in the city.
Isola Design District
The Isola Design District is located in Milan Isola neighbourhood, north of the city centre.
Tortona Design Week
Located southwest of the city centre, the Zona Tortona is home to Tortona Design Week.
Alcova 2023 at the Porta Vittoria Abattoir
Curators Joseph Grima and Valentina Ciuffi launched group show ‘Alcova’ in 2018: every year since, the project has taken over a dilapidated building somewhere in Milan, with a selection curated by Grima and Ciuffi featuring creative interventions by brands and designers.
Capsule Plaza at Spazio Maiocchi
During Milan Design Week, Kaleidoscope magazine will be launching a special book-magazine hybrid Capsule, inspired by radical design publications and foregrounding an opulent aesthetic. The publication coincides with the debut of the Capsule Home collection—a chair designed by Los Angeles-based design firm Nuova. For Milan Design Week, Capsule also launches a monograph dedicated to the Vibram FiveFingers, a limited-edition collaboration with Linck Ceramics.
Michelangelo Pistoletto: La Pace Preventiva (The Preventative Peace)
Running until 4 June 2023 at the Palazzo Reale Hall of the Caryatids is ‘La Pace Preventiva’, a major exhibition by Michelangelo Pistoletto. plus a site-specific installation for the evocative Sala delle Cariatidi. The works include a large new installation of corrugated cardboard arranged over the entire surface of the exhibition space, as well a career-spanning retrospective. The exhibition also takes place in partnering venues including the Museum of Natural History, the Planetarium, and the Civic Aquarium.
Yuri Ancarani – Forget Your Dream
On show until 11 June, the PAC Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea di Milano presents the first solo show in Italy devoted to Yuri Ancarani, whose works blend documentary cinema and video art. The exhibition is a partnership with MAMbo – Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna.
Armani/Casa a Palazzo
During Milan Design Week 2023, Giorgio Armani is opening up the Palazzo Orsini to the public for the first time, to present the new Armani/Casa collection. On this occasion, guests will visit the secret garden to discover a new outdoor collection and then, inside the historic building, encounter rare and precious items of furniture, displayed in the prestigious frescoed rooms on the first floor.
