The exhibition 999. Questions about living, curated by Stefano Mirti in the spaces of the Triennale di Milano, proposes some questions about the concept of home and living, especially in relation to the increased current technological, digital and energy transformations. The questions are many and probably not all and the answers, also proposed through interactive installations, tend to offer new points of view about what we simply call “home“. “Live in” means experiencing a different, customizable space, not only physical but also digital. For these reasons, the exhibition itself becomes a physical experience for the user because: “if I listen I forget, if I see I remember, if I do I understand“. For the most inquiring, a Facebook page and an Instagram profile have been opened with the same title of the exhibition. Here is the official link of the exhibition and the interview to the curator Stefano Mirti.
The exhibit has been conceived as a big house, a sort of workshop. How has it been created?
We wanted to have a modular and flexible box, like a Lego system, that could be well-rounded but also powerful. In Italy the house has always been conceived as a stage and we needed to find a practical and impressive solution. On one hand we have the simplicity of the modular box, realized with welded pipes, on which are picked the acoustic shelves and the lamps made by Francesco Librizzi for Fontana Arte. This is an action of layering: there are the illumination, the acoustic layer, the path, the alternating between full and empty spaces.
All the exhibition is conceived as a modular library full of different contents. In fact the project lives in a digital and social world and for this reason the set-up was the most important wedge of the whole project.
How was the collaboration with Petra Tikulin born?
We’ve known each other for years, she worked in Italy and Croatia. She moved here in Milan For this project and worked with Miriester Robles and Masha Chigvinadze in an excellent way. Putting together all the different elements of the set-up project, like the budgets, the different suppliers, the thousand contents and the number of activities, was a very complex operation. Without the sophistication and intelligence of our three designers, it would be impossible.
Do you think that the trend towards “cohabitation” is positive and in it lies the future of our homes?
It’s one way to intend the contemporary living. Is it positive or negative? It depends. Let’s say it’s like sex, it depends on taste. If you like it, great. If you don’t like it, it’s not easy to please.
For sure it’s one of the most important ways of living in this moment.
Involving people from different countries, have you noticed any substantial differences or common points about the concept of living?
It doesn’t seem to me that the different origin was a reason for great differences. We met Israeli, American, Swiss and many other guests. From the curator’s point of view there were more points in common than differences. The project developed by the people from Bangkok was very interesting because they focused on the spirits and other presences that live in our home and consists in 9 micro-installation that are located in different parts of the exhibition space.
The exhibition talks about contemporary living, but what challenges will today’s home face in order to adapt to the future?
The challenge is ongoing because the future is already between us. As the famous science fiction writer William Gibson says: “The future is already here, only that it has not been equally distributed”. The future is in all respects a concept of the past. Now, after two hundred years of Jules Verne, Star Trek and assorted science fiction, we have arrived at this eternal present that is our new condition. We simply have to get used to it. Not easy, not impossible. With a little effort, certainly feasible.
Text and interview by Beatrice Bonetto
