The patient waiting during lockdowns. Alternative programs for not giving in to liabilities. Design museums produce content and memories to keep track of these incredible twelve months. And they prepare for the future

If there is a strange thing in these days of Interni Designer's Week 2021, it is to pass in front of the Milan Triennale and see it closed. And, lengthening a little, also pass in front of the ADI Design Museum Compasso d'Oro to realize that there has never been a real inauguration of the space (apart from the delivery of the Compassi d'Oro 2020 in a very armored ceremony) and the new headquarters is just waiting to start welcoming the public. The alienating effects of an anomalous year. Behind the closed doors of the museums, however, things move.

The Triennale is already working on the next edition of the 2022 international review. It will be entitled Unkown Unkowns. An introduction to mysteries, the curatorship was entrusted to astrophysicist Ersilia Vaudo, helped by an international panel of scientists, philosophers, architects and designers. Obviously, the dialogue between disciplines will be the leitmotif of an exploration of how little we know we don't know. An operation that invites the hope of discovering and knowing more and more, so that curiosity and wonder show the way to a better future.

While waiting for Unkown Unkowns to take shape and substance and, above all, for its doors to reopen, the Triennale has never stopped producing digital content in the last twelve months. From the Decameron series to the most recent Is there life on Mars?, the immediate result is unexpectedly constructive: a new collection of exceptional audiovisual materials, which will help build the memory of the pandemic crisis. Designers and architects, but also writers, artists, actors, musicians: a list of excellence, it should be emphasized. In addition, the appointments for the virtual tours of Enzo Mari curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist with Francesca Giacomelli and the Museum of Italian Design led by experts: on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays, until April 30th.

The programs for the immediate future are dense but for now the Triennale is reserved: the on/off of the last twelve months has not passed in vain and will bring great projects, as well as the extension of the exhibition dedicated to Enzo Mari.

ADI Design Museum Compasso d'Oro, albeit with an inevitably smaller program, awaits its opening to the public in an equally constructive and serene way. A series of online appointments began on April 9th: MAD Meet Adi Designers. On June 16 it is the turn of Gilda Bojardi, director of Interni and undisputed patron of the Milanese design system. Until June the students of the ADI member universities will be able to learn directly from the voice of some of the leading Italian designers their experiences, professional strategies and the reasons for the success of their projects. Just book a long list of interesting names, professionals who have made available their time to share their experiences with students.

From ADI they comment: “There are many who with great generosity made themselves available to meet the students to reveal both the difficulties they faced and the professional virtuosity that allowed them to transform a sketch into a successful project. Likewise, the university-level schools that teach design and that are ADI members have joined MAD with great enthusiasm, indicating the professionals most consistent with their respective curricula to harmonize the meetings with the didactic planning. The result is a dense program of widespread cultural enrichment focused on sharing the traits of a profession that requires a sense of responsibility so great that it borders on madness – every designer is a bit of a MAD – and on being part of ADI as a vector of cohesion. towards the ultimate goal of design to improve life for all”.