A very large audience attended the presentation of Open Borders, Interni exhibition event in the courtyards of the State University of Milan. Philippe Daverio, an experienced host, perfectly chaired the session from the stage of the main hall, in the presence of the stars of this event.
Some guests spoke on behalf of the institutions and wished well for the event (Cristina Tajani, town councillor for labour, economic development, university and research; Filippo Del Corno, town councillor for culture; Gianluca Vago, dean of the Università degli Studi; Ernesto Mauri, CEO of the Mondadori Group).
Others (designers) described their installations, live or through videos.
Finally others, like Gilda Bojardi, editor-in-chief of Interni and host of the event, thanked all those who helped organize the event and remembered with touching words architect Zaha Hadid, who recently passed away and took part in the 2011 event with one installation in a courtyard of the State University.
What is the true meaning of Open Borders? That everything has a clear origin, and without it there would be no contamination. Starting from this fact, the event organized by Interni intends to go beyond the usual borders of design. In terms of materials and in terms of forms. And also, this needs to be said, beyond the physical borders of its three locations: Università degli Studi, the Botanic Garden in Brera and the Torre Velasca.
Milan is the ideal city for this type of exploration. When we think of a truly open border city in Italy, this is Milan. A city of perennial cross-fertilizations and hybridizations. A constantly evolving and multifaceted metropolis, an international platform and a laboratory of innovation, Milan defies any attempt to define it
Experimentation and contamination, innovation and exchange, defining the indefinable (as will happen in the Audi City Lab): Interni Open Borders will be all this, until 23 April.
The design industry was established in the city where centuries ago Leonardo was already experimenting and innovating, going beyond the usual borders of human knowledge. Design means beauty, creativity, research, culture, and industry.
The term culture industry often makes us turn up our noses. But isn’t it true that resources invested in culture are never wasted? From this viewpoint, the event organized by Interni has always been a contamination of ideas, designs, creativity, research and industry, represented by all our partner companies; this event exhibition can be organized during the Design Week thanks to them.
Beauty is the result of all this: the beauty of installations, of the locations where they are hosted, of the meetings and panels that animate this week. Maybe beauty will not save the world, but certainly it will always be a chance to know, design and improve it.
Text by Danilo Signorello – Photos by Efrem Raimondi
