From 22 to 25 October, the museum of the Compasso d’Oro becomes the heart of the Biennale Internazionale Grafica, with eight exhibitions and a programme of free talks running from morning to evening
BIG – Biennale Internazionale Grafica, conceived and curated by Francesco Dondina, chooses the ADI Design Museum as its home for its second edition. The exhibitions remain open until 8 November, every day from 10:30 am to 7:45 pm.
The journey begins with the present and SIGNS 4, the exhibition dedicated by Dondina to contemporary Italian graphic design: twelve designers and studios, different in their backgrounds and visual languages, brought together because differences are a value. The journey then moves back in time with Alfabeti Modernisti Italiani, curated by Luca Lattuga, which brings together wooden and metal typefaces produced in Italy between the 1930s and 1940s, and La A dell’Avanti!, dedicated to the historic newspaper.
Books are the second common thread. Bookshock, curated by Susanna Vallebona, explores their relationship with art and design, while Best Book Design from All Over the World brings a selection of the best-designed books from around the world to Milan and marks Italy’s entry into this international network with Beautiful Italian Books. Id-ictionary, curated by Silvana Amato, brings together 70 posters created by AGI members, while Muddy Dance by Erik Kessels, presented with ADCI, removes the football from photographs of amateur football matches: what remains are bodies chasing one another through the mud, transforming the game into a dance.
Alongside the exhibitions, the programme of talks follows a different thread each day:
- On 22 October, Erik Kessels presents The Ecology of the Everyday, exploring the reuse of images as an act of attention.
- 23 October focuses on space and identity: from the urban graphic design of Migliore+Servetto to wayfinding, followed by three talks by Peter Schmidt Group, including Own Your Aura!, on the appeal of brands that data cannot measure, and ending with Patrick Thomas and The Designer as Activist.
- 24 October turns to type and books, with type foundries Dalton Maag, Zetafonts and CAST, a talk on Alfabeti Modernisti, a round table on type design, Beautiful Italian Books and, closing the day, ILBRO with Leonardo Sonnoli.
- On Sunday 25 October, the programme opens up to questions about the future: the round table Verso un museo della grafica, promoted together with AIAP, followed by Monogrammi with James Clough and Fabrizio Falcone. The festival closes with Armando Milani and Dall’occhio al cuore, starting from his War to Peace, which became a mural in Nicosia.
BIG, however, does not stop at the museum. It spreads across the city, from Fabbrica del Vapore to Villa Necchi Campiglio, from Biblioteca Sormani to Bonvini 1909, with stops at NABA and Politecnico di Milano. But the ADI is a good place to start, with just one question: when was the last time you really looked at, and read, what surrounds you?
