Design Convivio. An imaginary dinner between eight Politecnico masters

Design Convivio arrives at Politecnico and opens its doors to the public starting in April 2025. The installation, inaugurated in October 2023 at the Historical Library of Politecnico di Milano and later hosted by ADI Design Museum, is finally arriving at the Campus Durando (Building B4, ground floor).

Design Convivio, curated by Giampiero Bosoni and Paola Bertola, is an integral part of the Design Philology project and materialises the origins of the institutionalisation of design at Politecnico di Milano. The installation stages an imaginary dialogue between some of the forerunners protagonists of this path. The figures chosen to represent its fundamental passages are Gio Ponti, Franco Albini, Carlo De Carli, Marco Zanuso, Achille Castiglioni, Vittoriano Viganò, Alberto Rosselli and Raffaella Crespi, all graduates of Politecnico and then professors at the same university in founding subjects for design culture.

The dialogues, curated by writer Gianni Biondillo and actress and director Paola Albini, are inspired by original writings and quotations from the eight characters, selected by Giampiero Bosoni and Marta Elisa Cecchi. The installation, conceived and designed by Ico Migliore (Migliore+Servetto), stages an imaginary convivial moment between the eight protagonists seated around a large table, set with images and references to their projects. Through an interaction with the spectator, the characters, represented with original illustrations by Ico Migliore and interpreted by the voices of Gianni Biondillo, Paola Albini and a few professional actors, are activated and intervene in a game of repartee.
Luminous words, suspended at full height in the library, echo the protagonists’ dialogues, recalling their fundamental role in shaping not only iconic projects and objects in the history of design, but the very language of design and its meanings. The keywords stem from the cultural and scientific vision behind the creation of a new course of study, announced by Raffaella Crespi, the youngest of the eight protagonists and the only woman. Alongside Tomás Maldonado, who joined Politecnico in 1984, she contributed to the commission “Contributions to the Formation of the Degree Course in Industrial Design and Furniture”, initiating the institutionalisation of design at Politecnico di Milano.

The installation will be open for visits by reservation on the following days:

• April 1
• April 15
• April 29
• May 13
• June 24
• July 8

To book your visit go to www.dipartimentodesign.polimi.it.