The theme for the 2024 Fuorisalone, “Materia Natura”, encourages us to contemplate the significant role design plays in a world that is progressively more concerned with the environment. Now in its 21st edition, the Fuorisalone, scheduled to take place from the 15th to the 21st of April, will once again spotlight Milan, with the goal of fostering an environmentally-conscious design culture. This event brings together designers, architects, schools, universities, and institutions to exchange ideas that shape our current world, with a particular emphasis on the future of our environment. The 2024 Fuorisalone theme, “Materia Natura”, serves as a call to reflection and deep exploration of the connection between these two words, visualized through a campaign curated by Nicola Ricciardi and created by EX (Andrea Cassi, Michele Versaci) and Giorgio Ferrero (MYBOSSWAS), who developed a five-part series of subjects.
Fuorisalone offers a platform for free expression and discussion, fostering critical debate on the many forms of design, with nature being the most crucial source of inspiration that we must all care for. “The intention behind our theme choice is that by ‘matter’ we refer to knowledge, culture, and skill, while ‘nature’ represents space, time, and resources. It is crucial that we fuse these two aspects to plan our present and safeguard our future,” says Paolo Casati, the Co-founder and Creative Director of Studiolabo. To further disseminate the “Materia Natura” concept, Nicola Ricciardi, the Artistic Director of miart, was invited to oversee the visual representation of the theme. POV is a collection of five different photographic and audiovisual works that explore the precarious relationship between humans and the environment, featuring a log of wood harvested in Val Susa, a block of ice, a block of lava stone, a block of marble, and a slate slab. These five elements, each one representing the myriad and complex ways that matter and nature interact, illustrate the impact of human actions on the environment and how natural matter is transformed into an object.
“We delved into the relationship between matter and nature, and concurrently questioned the nature of matter,” the authors state. Throughout the year, Fuorisalone.it serves as a comprehensive design guide and introduces a new feature: the Milano Design Agenda, a constantly updated calendar of design events in Milan, organized daily. In addition, the World Design Events section collates the dates of various Design Weeks held globally. Stark presents “Transitions” in relation to the “Matter Nature” theme. The installation Stark showcases in conjunction with the new theme proposed by Fuorisalone encourages a multisensorial exploration of the various states in which matter appears. For the first time, descending into the Sala dei Pilastri of the Sforzesco Castle will feel like entering a transitioning material, thanks to the designs water creates with and within it.
Among the initiatives is Dropcity, which will be open to the public from the 12th to the 21st of April, hosting a robust program of exhibitions, installations, conferences, and talks with international architects and designers. Tortona Design Week reestablishes itself as a key player on the international design stage again this year.
From the 15th to the 21st of April, the streets of the iconic neighborhood transform into a “Walk of Design”, featuring exhibitions, installations, and workshops with internationally recognized designers. From Via Tortona to Via Novi, from Via Savona to the Antica Fabbrica 14 spaces, the locations shaped by the narratives of a post-industrial Milan become the backdrop for unique and engaging experiences. Base Milano also returns from the 15th to the 21st of April with We Will Design, the experimental laboratory platform that has been welcoming and promoting projects by designers from around the world during Design Week since 2021.
