REPORTAGE:
New poetic activism
By Cristina Morozzi
"New Poetic Activism", an exhibition curated by Mario Trimarchi at the Adi Design Museum in Milan, from 29 February to 20 April 2024, presented the projects of 17 designers invited by Mario Trimarchi to invent poetic objects around which to build a home.
In the catalog, Mario Trimarchi writes: "Can one design something from which a new way of living and even the quality of relationships with others can develop?"
The exhibition, accompanied by a catalogue with photos, drawings, and critical texts, presents various types of objects designed by 17 designers: Andrea Branzi, Maddalena Casadei, Lorenzo Damiani, Michele De Lucchi, Francesco Faccin, Forma Fantasma, Marta Laudani, Giovanni Levanti, Raffaella Mangiarotti, Francesco Meda, Elena Salmistraro, Valerio Sommella, Paolo Ulian.
Mario defines the objects created by the designers as "inevitable", since the call to participate in the exhibition invited them to design a category of objects, characterized by their destiny, that often stays with us forever," because", as Mario suggests, "only human beings need things to cling to existence"... "It is inevitable for us to live together with objects, with those objects that become inevitable every time we call them things and they smile at us and recognize us.
The well-timed exhibition suggests a reflection on everyday things, which in this historical moment are not considered merely functional tools, but objects for philosophers to think about to understand human life since animals do not need things.
